I'm not sure that these two things are related. It is possible in an era of remote work to outsource any American software job to a lower paid, better skilled

I'm not sure that these two things are related. It is possible in an era of remote work to outsource any American software job to a lower paid, better skilled worker in a low cost of labour country. Companies choose not to do this. Maybe they want people they can meet, maybe investors don't like it, maybe the paperwork scares then. I don't know the reason but every American programmer who has a job has it because thier employer chose not to hire a better cheaper foreigner with less rights. Looking at it this way we can say that the American job market and salary expectations are not related to international salaries. And it follows that the same can be true in Europe. My personal theory is, the world runs on dollars. America prints dollars. The closer you are to the fountain the more water you get, so Americans get more dollars.