Sure, but the talent itself does consider those things. Educated immigrants certainly do; I know several people who have chosen to migrate to the EU over the US

Sure, but the talent itself does consider those things. Educated immigrants certainly do; I know several people who have chosen to migrate to the EU over the US in no small part due to the social safety net and better work-life balance, or decided that they'd rather stay where they are in the 3rd world over moving to the US. The world is a different place than it used to be in the dotcom boom; tech talent has a lot more options nowadays and those things add up.