The Geographic Illusion: How Location-Based Pay Disguises Wage Suppression as Market Rationality

Same Job, Same Skills, Different Zip Code—Different Paycheck

There is a particular species of corporate sleight-of-hand that deserves illumination: the practice of location-based pay. On its surface, it presents itself as a model of rational market alignment—a sensible adjustment for regional labor costs and living expenses. But beneath this veneer of economic neutrality lies something far less innocent: a system…