ttwtf

I can also give you a different calculation.

1. Working hours. I know people in Europe that have 35 or 37h per week guaranteed. 40 hours is normal in the US and most of the time you work much longer. 1 hour lunch break is obligatory. It is too long, I can not eat for one hour if I bring my own lunch. It is too short to go the the gym too.

2. Travel. Sometimes I had to travel a lot. You board the plane Friday evening, you are back home Saturday at 5pm and Monday you start again at 8:30 pm

3. Commuting. It is difficult to live close to work. Basically 1 hour commute each way is guaranteed. And while this is no time on my companies clock, it is on mine.

So you easily get 60 hours a week.

Depending where you live, you pay 30-50% taxes, 20% sales tax in Europe etc.

If you move abroad and work from your laptop, the whole game can change. Working hours, commute, taxes, purchasing power...

"If a firm found a way to keep high end workers for cheap"

What is a "firm"? Most executives in a company optimize for they own benefit, not for yours, not for the "firms".

There is a famous article frm HBR. How to manage your boss https://hbr.org/2005/01/managing-your-boss (paywalled but I am sure you can find it for free on the net).

You have to make your boss happy. In some cases this may be done by an outstanding performance. In most cases it is done by being a good talker, walking overtime, look busy, give him a blow job under the table, whatever. But it is rarely connected with your real job performance. And again, how to measure performance? Performance for the company or performance for your superior?