Data report · November 2026

The Remote Pay Gap Report

Foreign businesses that hire remote workers directly pay about 2.2× what local employers pay for the same type of role. That's the median across 72 pairs of role and country, and the gap depends heavily on where you look: 1.2× in Ukraine and Poland, 4.6× in India.

By the Outsourcing Insider editorial team · Updated November 2026

2.2×Median gap across 72 pairs

1.4×–3.3×The middle half of pairs

42 of 72Pairs where the gap is 2× or more

4 of 72Pairs where local pay comes out higher

Local pay differs far more than remote pay

This is the main finding. Across the 9 countries with at least 6 comparable roles, the middle role's local pay runs from $1.63 to $8.87 an hour. Direct-hire pay in the same countries only runs from $7.50 to $12.13. Foreign employers' pay moves much less from country to country, so the gap is widest where local pay is lowest.

Middle role, USD per hour, sorted by gap

Local employersForeign businesses hiring directly

India8 roles4.6×$1.63 → $7.50

Philippines8 roles3.4×$2.51 → $9.47

Mexico8 roles3.3×$3.47 → $10.17

Brazil8 roles2.9×$3.59 → $9.38

Argentina8 roles2.1×$5.92 → $10.60

Colombia8 roles2.1×$4.55 → $9.81

South Africa6 roles1.5×$8.87 → $11.82

Romania6 roles1.4×$7.45 → $12.13

Ukraine8 roles1.2×$7.32 → $9.81

Poland4 roles1.2×$18.57 → $21.36

Poland is shown but left out of the ranges above: we could compare only 4 of its roles, mostly tech, which pushes both of its figures up. "Middle role" = the median across each country's comparable roles.

Web developers have the smallest gap

Web developers sit lowest at 1.3×. Pool both developer roles and the gap is 1.4×, against 2.4× for the other roles, though software developers alone (2.1×) sit above digital marketers (1.9×). Local pay comes out higher in only 4 pairs, 3 of them developer roles: web developers in Argentina, graphic designers in Romania, software developers in Romania and web developers in South Africa.

Median gap by role, direct-hire pay ÷ local pay

Social media manager8 countries2.6×

Virtual assistant9 countries2.6×

Graphic designer8 countries2.5×

Customer support agent10 countries2.5×

Bookkeeper8 countries2.2×

Software developer10 countries2.1×

Digital marketer10 countries1.9×

Web developer9 countries1.3×

Every country and role

Each cell is the middle of the direct-hire range divided by the middle of the local range. "–" means we don't have both numbers. Cells link to the full figures and sources where the role has its own page.

Country	Virtual assistant	Customer support agent	Bookkeeper	Digital marketer	Social media manager	Graphic designer	Web developer	Software developer
India	3.2×	4.5×	6.3×	6.4×	4.9×	4.8×	2.6×	4.2×
Philippines	3.1×	4.9×	4.4×	4.5×	3.4×	2.7×	2.3×	3.4×
Mexico	2.6×	3.8×	3.3×	3.2×	2.6×	3.7×	1.4×	5.2×
Brazil	5.4×	3.3×	1.6×	3.8×	2.6×	2.6×	1.3×	3.3×
Argentina	2.4×	2.3×	2.1×	1.6×	3.4×	2.2×	0.9×	2.0×
Colombia	4.3×	2.7×	2.3×	1.0×	1.6×	2.4×	1.4×	1.9×
South Africa	1.3×	2.2×	–	1.7×	1.1×	–	0.4×	2.1×
Romania	1.2×	1.9×	1.6×	2.1×	–	0.9×	–	0.9×
Ukraine	1.1×	1.0×	1.1×	1.2×	1.8×	1.4×	1.2×	1.4×
Poland	–	1.5×	–	1.3×	–	–	1.1×	1.1×

What this means if you're hiring

Budget from direct-hire figures, not local salaries. A salary website will show what local employers pay. In most pairs here, that's well under what foreign businesses pay.
The cheapest local market is a smaller bargain than it looks. Local pay in India is about 18% of local pay in South Africa, but its direct-hire pay is about 63%.
Compare your role, not the average. The gap for the same country can differ a lot between roles. The cost calculator runs the numbers for one hire.

How far to trust these numbers

These are published figures, not a survey of workers. Direct-hire figures come from job ads by foreign employers, those job boards' salary guides and neutral surveys. Local figures come from statistics offices, job boards and salary platforms.
33 of the 72 pairs rest on a single direct-hire figure. One new job board could move those cells a lot, so read patterns across the table instead of leaning on one cell.
Jobs aren't matched one to one. Seniority, hours and duties can differ. We leave out senior roles and ads also open to high-income countries, but the two sides still aren't identical jobs.
Ranges are wide, and midpoints hide that. A midpoint isn't what a typical worker earns. It's a simple way to compare two ranges.
Exchange rates move. Local figures were converted to USD at the rates listed on each country page, and Argentina's moves most of all.

How we worked it out

For each role and country, we took the lowest and highest published direct-hire figure and the same for local pay, in USD per hour (344 figures in all, checked in October 2026). Full-time pay is converted at that country's full-time hours.
We used only pairs with both numbers: 72 of 80. Our estimates for missing rates aren't in this report.
For each pair, gap = middle of the direct-hire range ÷ middle of the local range.
Country and role figures are the median of their pairs. The middle half uses the 25th and 75th percentiles.

More detail is on the methodology page.

Use this data

You're welcome to quote these numbers and reuse the charts. Just link to this page as the source.

Suggested citation

Your Hiring Partners, "The Remote Pay Gap Report", November 2026. https://yourhiringpartners.com/remote-pay-gap-report/

Spotted a mistake or have a better source? Send it to us and we'll check it. Press questions go to the same address.

FAQ

How much more do foreign businesses pay remote workers than local employers?

In the median of 72 role and country pairs, published direct-hire pay is about 2.2× local pay. The middle half of pairs falls between 1.4× and 3.3×, and the median by country runs from 1.2× in Ukraine and Poland to 4.6× in India.

Which country has the biggest remote pay gap?

India has the widest gap of the 10 countries we compared, at about 4.6×. Its local pay figures are also the lowest in the data.

Does this mean remote workers earn this much more for the same work?

Not exactly. We compare published ranges, not the same people doing the same jobs. Seniority, hours and job content can differ between a job ad for foreign employers and a local salary figure, so treat the gap as a guide to how far apart the two markets are.

Can I use this data?

Yes. Quote it, reuse the charts or download the CSV, and link to this page as the source. Suggested citation: Your Hiring Partners, "The Remote Pay Gap Report", November 2026. https://yourhiringpartners.com/remote-pay-gap-report/

All 55 sources behind the figures

AmbitionBox · BAE Negocios · BestJobs · Bulldogjob · Bumeran Argentina · Catho · Computrabajo Argentina · Computrabajo Colombia · Computrabajo Mexico · Data México · Djinni · Djinni salary statistics · DOU · DOU jobs · Get on Board · Glassdoor · Glassdoor Brasil · Himalayas · Himalayas and employers' career pages · Himalayas job ad · Indeed Brasil · Indeed Colombia · Indeed India · Indeed Mexico · Indeed Philippines · Indeed South Africa · Indeed South Africa search results · ITSitio · JobStreet Philippines · Just Join IT · LinkedIn Jobs · Native Pest Management careers page · Olhar Digital · OnlineJobs.ph blog · OnlineJobs.ph job search results · Optro careers page · OverseasJobs.com job ad · Paylab Romania · Paylab South Africa · PayScale · PayScale India · PayScale South Africa · Pensjometr.pl · Philippine Statistics Authority · Pnet 2025 Salary Guide · Pnet 2026 Salary Guide · Shadow Light Studios careers page · Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025 · Statistics Poland · Stayd Collective careers page · Sysarmy / Openqube · Talentify job ad · Vagas.com.br · Work.ua · Workable job board

Who made this

This report is published by Your Hiring Partners, part of Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. VA MASTERS is a staffing agency, so it has an interest in this topic. Its own rates aren't used as a source in these figures. More about us.