There is no "shortage of COBOL programmers." Businesses are simply choosing what they will pay, and the market is responding appropriately. And this is also not just a case of naively shouting "duh, just pay them more" for a market that can't bear the increase in costs (i.e. some industries can only survive if there are available low cost workers - most of us aren't willing to pay $40 for a fast food burger, for example. Whether those industries should be around if they can only survive on low cost labor is another story...) It's not exactly like the financial world is scrounging for money. Businesses can either choose to pay their CEOs a hundred million or so, or they can choose to spread some of that money to COBOL programmers. The choice is theirs, but there is no "shortage".