From my perspective in my industry it is because the skills have been hard to find and the need to hire has fluctuated to different degrees. Sometimes the compa

From my perspective in my industry it is because the skills have been hard to find and the need to hire has fluctuated to different degrees. Sometimes the company is desperate, other times not. When finding talent in a competitive market, particularly if a company find themselves desperate they often find they need to go above market averages in order to attain people. It's not that they don't value you, it's simply the entry cost the company has found themselves needing to pay at that point in time. If it an unfortunate reality for those already at the company, that those hired years after you may have found the position during a competitive period in the market, mixed with greater needs of the company. Having said that, in my experience when REM has been subpar the company has performed a REM review and increased salaries. Occurred once or twice in nearly a decade.