[ThePawnBreak]

That wasn't very clear, let me clarify what I mean.

Let's say Bob is a programmer and always loved games, and only wants to work for game companies. Let's also say that game companies pay roughly $50k, and the Google office down the street pays roughly $200k. The market rate for Bob is $50k, not $200k, because he is unwilling to work for Google (since it's not a game company) and they are therefore not part of his market. His market is only game companies.

I think examples of this happening are: - game programmers making considerably less so than other programmers simply because their employers can pay less and still get enough applicants - big tech companies paying through their nose because a lot of people are unwilling to put up with their hiring process bullshit - finance companies in London paying a lot because a lot of people don't want to touch them

So for programmer Joe, the market is the intersection of companies which would hire Joe and companies which Joe is willing to work for.