>>511039803
Tech salaries were never high. Tech companies and universities used salary surveys that only included workers at the top tech companies. The vast majority of tech workers are employed by boring, low margin companies like apartment complex chains, trucking companies, and food distributors. Those companies pay middle class salaries for tech and make up 95%+ of the tech labor market. When you hear about an AI researcher getting offered a billion dollars for a four year contract, you imagine techbros swimming in money but most are making about as much as school teachers. Payroll analysis shows tech was never all that lucrative.