> So why is remote work being blamed for driving salaries up, shouldn't it have opened up the talent pool for hiring companies just as much as it's opened up the potential choice for applicants.
Same reason house price rises are so sticky: you don't have to move unless you've got something better to go to. Rising salaries are about turnover as much as anything else.
But if a dev working up north for £50k takes a remote job from London paying £60k that would normally have paid £100k for someone local, they are getting something better and the company are getting someone cheaper. Doesn't this drive London salaries down because all the local people now have to complete with remote people willing to take less?
So yes it increases salaries in some places, but decreases them in the headline areas where they were highest to start with. Remote work should be a force to move everything to the mean, not just a force for increasing salaries.
The trick is for that dev to take the London job for £100k. Most people are clever enough to tune in to the market rate. A few outliers won't wreck things as that person who takes a job at a low salary will have lots of opportunities to learn the market rate and then move in order to get it. The bigger the disparity between their new rate and the market rate, the more the incentive to move.
Also, FYI we aren't yokels who get paid half as much up here ;)
That doesn't seem like it would work. Isn't it basic supply and demand dynamics? If people can work remotely in London from their home elsewhere the supply of available Devs for London companies has increased. They don't need to offer the same full salary any more because they'll have lots of choice to offer less, or give it to someone else.
You can't just avoid supply & demand dynamics by saying everyone should just hold out until they get a higher offer. As a non-London dev myself I can tell you I'd snap up a remote job for a 20% payrise, and I suspect most would. Your suggestion of only taking the full on site salary only works if everyone does it, and most will take lower. It's a prisoners dilemma kind of problem, if we all agreed to hold out for higher salaries we would all benefit, but for each individual it makes sense to defect and take lower because if you don't, someone else almost certainly will. The salary will reach an equilibrium where supply at that price matches demand.
Also, no offense intended about the numbers ;-). I mostly just made those numbers up with no bearing on reality. I'm actually more northern myself, and I'd say average senior dev salary here is probably around £50-60k. I don't really have any idea about equivalent London salaries.
Same reason house price rises are so sticky: you don't have to move unless you've got something better to go to. Rising salaries are about turnover as much as anything else.