Actually, NASA also paid their engineers (particularly young ones) squat, at least in the 80’s. I worked with a guy who too a job with NASA in Huntsville - for a significant pay cut! But he was young, and darned near nothing looked better on your resume’. I was joking with him that his mother was on the phone for days telling everyone that her son got a job with NASA - even people she didn’t know! I’m not so sure that it carries that kind of weight these days...
Another “company” whose prestige is worth salary money is UL. Their pay wasn’t very good (at least in the 80’s, I believe they are not-for-profit, but if you wanted to be a successful/respected product safety engineer, putting some time in there was instant cred for the rest of your career.
I’ve been in aerospace since ‘71 and started working “Blue Shuttle” in ‘78.
While they made a bit less than we contractors, it was a good salary.
The Indian workers in the U.S. telecom industry have their salary “managed” from the home office in India. Their net pay is a step above slave wages.