While I think that lower salaries are a result of multiple factors, one interesting data point is that governments actively disincentivize high salaries for workers through taxation, and low salary requirements for visas.

For example, the "high" salary tax income bracket starts at £50k in the UK [1] and at €54k in Germany [2]. More or less, these rates are similar across western Europe (except for Switzerland). In the US, tax brackets are far more permissive [3].

Also, in the UK a £25k salary is fair enough to guarantee a visa [3], or €40k [4] in the Netherlands, hinting that these governments think that such a salary is high enough.

Most policies enacted by governments, I think more through ignorance rather than malice, assume that workers making ~€50k have enough and shouldn't need to get increased.

While other factors (lack of big companies & lack of VC investment) probably have a higher impact on the low wages, I think that government policies also have an affect on it.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates [2] https://www.academics.com/guide/taxes-in-germany [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51430811 [4] https://www.iamexpat.nl/career/employment-news/2019-income-r...