> why should they pa[y] a German wage for someone who is a face on a screen, when they can pay a fraction for that same face broadcasted from a few hundred kilo

> why should they pa[y] a German wage for someone who is a face on a screen, when they can pay a fraction for that same face broadcasted from a few hundred kilometers further east or south? German is hardly used in business context here anyway and lower-wage countries within ±3 hours timezones abound. I don't know if you're aware, but good devs in Poland, Ukraine or Romania are practically being paid western EU wages by now. And when it comes to people who are outside EU: There's definitely talented people but experience from my 10y+ of working is that shared cultural understanding is as important. That's why hiring devs from several timezones away doesn't often work, even if they're talented and cheaper. BTW. On my side, living in France, I doubled my salary by starting to work remotely. Quite likely you can also find better paying jobs than your current one that are full remote. (Now, France outside of Paris is generally severely underpaying, and probably in Berlin wages are higher; but still there are companies paying higher than std Berlin wage on full remote).