Same claim can be made about land appreciation in major metropolitan areas (e.g. NYC, SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc). We need to figure out how to balance out gains in this recovery.
Aren't tech salaries close to 2x compared to 10 years ago?
Capital vs labor is a big issue but the non knowledge worker vs knowledge worker divide shouldn't be ignored either. Knowledge workers also employ similar capital leverage compared to the capital class through its employment.
I'm not sure that compares to the issue above. Labor value is almostly[0] purely a supply and demand issue. Knowledge workers are in higher demand, so they get paid more.
That's far too simplistic imo. Combine supply demand with the fact that when capital (including knowledge capital) provides leverage for companies to increase profit margins, that enables them to post higher wages according to supply demand.
Look at skilled manufacturing. Employers basically refuse to pay based on supply demand even more than software etc.
I don't understand your last point. Are there employers who are leaving critical-to-them skilled manufacturing positions unfilled because they won't offer a competitive wage?
Boston area seems to be +50% to +75% in 10 years, like role to like role. That's a CAGR of 5% to 6%. It only takes a CAGR of 7.2% to double in 10 years.
It would be easy for someone who was 2-3 years into their career to now be making double at 10+ years' experience, a couple promotions, and a 50-75% overall salary inflation figure.
Starting salary for a beginner SWE in 1995 was $55K, 1999 was $75K, now it's $120K. It sounds good, but it turns out to be only 5% per year, every year. Still beats inflation by quite a lot.
