It’s not just “standard of living” but also security—if you have advantages like a savings cushion, a supportive and well-resourced family, etc. you can tolerate certain risks on a near-minimum wage salary[1] better than someone without those things. Those risks include major medical expenses, short/medium term disability, the need for major car repairs, the project not working out and being unemployed until you can find your next job, etc., etc. As you implied, there are also various factors that make you more prone to risks or less able to weather them—like having moral responsibility for the well-being of one’s child(ren), being older (and thus relatively more exposed to medical expenses and disability risks), and so on.
I think some of the disconnect here is between the sacrifice we’re implicitly asking of would-be CE incubatees in developed countries in comparison to what other orgs are paying for fairly entry-level work. To the extent your point (4) is valid, it suggests to me that some orgs are significantly overpaying for those positions.
It is a fairly reasonable case to make, that some organizations are overpaying, at least from the standpoint of maximizing welfare per dollar.
On the medical expenses issue—that’s a legitimate concern, but to be fair, I find it’s a US-centric worry insofar as other EAs from high income countries are protected by more robust public healthcare systems. And it was even worse pre-ACA, of course!
It’s not just “standard of living” but also security—if you have advantages like a savings cushion, a supportive and well-resourced family, etc. you can tolerate certain risks on a near-minimum wage salary[1] better than someone without those things. Those risks include major medical expenses, short/medium term disability, the need for major car repairs, the project not working out and being unemployed until you can find your next job, etc., etc. As you implied, there are also various factors that make you more prone to risks or less able to weather them—like having moral responsibility for the well-being of one’s child(ren), being older (and thus relatively more exposed to medical expenses and disability risks), and so on.
I think some of the disconnect here is between the sacrifice we’re implicitly asking of would-be CE incubatees in developed countries in comparison to what other orgs are paying for fairly entry-level work. To the extent your point (4) is valid, it suggests to me that some orgs are significantly overpaying for those positions.
Where I live, minimum wage is $15 per hour, so slightly more than $30K/year.
It is a fairly reasonable case to make, that some organizations are overpaying, at least from the standpoint of maximizing welfare per dollar.
On the medical expenses issue—that’s a legitimate concern, but to be fair, I find it’s a US-centric worry insofar as other EAs from high income countries are protected by more robust public healthcare systems. And it was even worse pre-ACA, of course!