Thanks for all the great responses.
I have trouble with the argument that pilots take on more risk than mechanics and that is why they make more. while yes they should make more I just cant wrap my head around how much more they are making. Statistically roofers have a more dangerous job than both and make less than both. Danger does facilitate higher pay usually because the more dangerous a job is the less people are willing to do that job, driving the cost of labor up.
The education argument I also find week. Yes flight school is very expensive, but you can go from 0 - commercial in almost half the time you can get an A&P cert. Also education does not equate to high wages, I have the lowest form of "education" in my family, I am the only one that has no degree. The rest (6 people) have at lest a masters degree and make less than me. Why? Because a PHD in underwater basket weaving isn't in high demand.
From what I can tell the two biggest things hitting A&P pay is ability to outsource, and social stereotypes.
I understand that outsourcing MX labor A&P pay as well as labor working under the supervision of a mechanic. However the guy in mexico still cant fix the plane stuck at the gate in IAD. I still don't think it accounts for the majority of the gap in pay.
The bottom line conclusion I can come to is that social stereotypes drive most of the pay gap between the two professions. People view mechanics as a lower skill set as pilot, which I personally find to not be the case. When I left my last job HR came to me with a very generous offer to get me to stay (low 6 figure), and told me this is a very generous offer at the very top of what the industry offers mechanics. I countered that while I was flattered by the offer that I also am I pilot, and fly. While it is good pay for a mechanic it is on the lower side of average for a pilot. So I voted with my feet.
Long story short, I thought being an A&P/pilot would be a great help in my carrier, and in the early days of my carrier it was. It kept me out of the poverty pay range that so many people have to work threw to get to better jobs. However now I am viewing my A&P as the golden par of handcuffs restricting my carrier. Every time I work somewhere they are super excited to have an A&P/pilot, and then because its (in my opinion) harder to get highly skilled mechanics I end up pigeonholed in MX making MX pay while also flying. The response I always get is because that is what mechanics make, never mind we had to higher two people when you left. I guess I'm just frustrated about the invisible pay barrier holding down A&P pay.
I will always be extremely proud of being an A&P, and will always be in my mind a mechanic (not technician or engineer) first and a pilot second. But for the sake of my carrier I will pretend to be a pilot first because ultimately foremost I am a money loving capitalist
P.S. Mechanics don't sleep in there beds every night. They work all Wednesday - Sunday night and get to sleep in there bed all day.