I can fully understand your frustration. Out of curiosity, where exactly do you live (country)? I think that you can frame this issue the following way: the pa

I can fully understand your frustration. Out of curiosity, where exactly do you live (country)? I think that you can frame this issue the following way: the pay in country X, compared to a richer country like US or UK or Australia, is a function of cost of living in country X, but also "competition" in country X. Meaning, most other jobs like yours in country X pay at a certain level, which is maybe 1/2 or 1/5 of what you get in the US. But employer knows that, and therefore doesn't have to offer much more than that to convince you to take that job. Some of what your boss is saying sounds like BS to me. But the hard truth is that you don't have a lot of options. An alternative could be to do freelance work for US-based customers. If you're really good at your job, you should be able to get close to, or even surpass, the pay of a salaried person like you in the US. I can humbly suggest you to read some books or blog posts on career development. Most of them, IMHO, are not very deep or informational, but there are some gems in the mix. Sorry I don't have one to recommend.