That's how it's working, many companies have developers in low-cost areas, and they definitely aren't paying them USA-level salaries, often not even USA-minimum

That's how it's working, many companies have developers in low-cost areas, and they definitely aren't paying them USA-level salaries, often not even USA-minimum wage. Developer salaries even in such countries tend to be far better than $2/h, but that's explicitly because western companies like these "were hiring developers there instead", if they weren't, the developer salaries there would match the local market and be even lower.