I think this take is a little divorced from reality. Tech as a sector has layed off almost half a million employees flooding the market. There is no shortage of people complaining that they can’t find a job with 10+ years of experience. Foreign brains is not a necessity or a solution.
I’ve seen this in several downturns of the past thirty years - yet H1B levels are always 100-200K a year no matter what.
There have been some hard years like 2003, but overall its one of the best careers anyone can get, I know this from doing it for over 30 years myself. I have almost always have a near wealthy income and the flexibility to work anywhere in the world.
Yeah your personal anecdote isn’t very meaningful - take a larger sample from say LinkedIn. My own experience is the 90s were the best, but since the H1B con job wages and opportunities are depressed. I was billing $100-$125 an hour in the ‘90s, now more like $75. Comfortable still but lost a bit
Well in the late 90s there was a massive bubble, it was unsustainable. $75 and hour is $3,000 a week, $12,000 a month. That is a great deal of money, and its been sustainable.