4 ms·

Offering locally competitive wages is exploiting? If a company is based in NYC, and has a branch in rural Ohio, are the Ohioans being exploited if they aren't

Offering locally competitive wages is exploiting? If a company is based in NYC, and has a branch in rural Ohio, are the Ohioans being exploited if they aren't paid as much as their NYC counterparts despite drastically reduced cost of living in rural Ohio?

Marsymars 2y ago
Well... yes? If digital widget producers are worth $x to the company, and get paid 0.8x in one location and 0.4x in another location, I'm not sure why I'd regard that as anything other than exploitative. CoL isn't really related to the market value of labour for remote-capable jobs; it would be similarly exploitative if the company paid childfree people, vegetarians, and basement apartment dwellers less because of their drastically reduced cost of living. I could see a point for fairness if the salaries were scaled so that average post-CoL savings in different CoL areas were equal, particular within regions (e.g. a country) where people have freedom of movement.
- satvikpendem 2y ago
  > CoL isn't really related to the market value of labour for remote-capable jobs I mean, it is. Wages are a market, thus supply and demand applies. We are not in a socialist society where there is some inherent "exploitation" which is basically what you're talking about.
  - Marsymars 2y ago
    Yes, I misspoke, the market value is different, but the actual, objectively measurable value to the company is not. That we're not in a socialist society is exactly the reason for any inherent exploitation. And like, I'm saying this as a pretty gung-ho capitalist.
    - satvikpendem 2y ago
      Exploitation has a specific definition in socialist circles, one that many capitalists reject as being misleading at best and malicious at worst. Since we are not in a socialist society, we cannot use their definition of the term, which is what I'm saying you're using. Yes, there can be other types of exploitation in a capitalist society, but the one you're talking about is getting paid "unfair" wages when the only "fair" wage is what one can get via supply and demand. That you or others who live in different cost of living areas might feel slighted does not mean it is exploitation in the capitalist sense; people in a LCoL area may be happy to take a lower wage than a HCoL person, they would not feel exploited due to that.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - chx 2y ago
        "people in a LCoL area may be happy to take a lower wage than a HCoL person, they would not feel exploited due to that." good to know

Marsymars 2y ago

Well... yes? If digital widget producers are worth $x to the company, and get paid 0.8x in one location and 0.4x in another location, I'm not sure why I'd regard that as anything other than exploitative. CoL isn't really related to the market value of labour for remote-capable jobs; it would be similarly exploitative if the company paid childfree people, vegetarians, and basement apartment dwellers less because of their drastically reduced cost of living. I could see a point for fairness if the salaries were scaled so that average post-CoL savings in different CoL areas were equal, particular within regions (e.g. a country) where people have freedom of movement.

satvikpendem 2y ago
> CoL isn't really related to the market value of labour for remote-capable jobs I mean, it is. Wages are a market, thus supply and demand applies. We are not in a socialist society where there is some inherent "exploitation" which is basically what you're talking about.
- Marsymars 2y ago
  Yes, I misspoke, the market value is different, but the actual, objectively measurable value to the company is not. That we're not in a socialist society is exactly the reason for any inherent exploitation. And like, I'm saying this as a pretty gung-ho capitalist.
  - satvikpendem 2y ago
    Exploitation has a specific definition in socialist circles, one that many capitalists reject as being misleading at best and malicious at worst. Since we are not in a socialist society, we cannot use their definition of the term, which is what I'm saying you're using. Yes, there can be other types of exploitation in a capitalist society, but the one you're talking about is getting paid "unfair" wages when the only "fair" wage is what one can get via supply and demand. That you or others who live in different cost of living areas might feel slighted does not mean it is exploitation in the capitalist sense; people in a LCoL area may be happy to take a lower wage than a HCoL person, they would not feel exploited due to that.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - chx 2y ago
      "people in a LCoL area may be happy to take a lower wage than a HCoL person, they would not feel exploited due to that." good to know