My salary has been stagnant for about 5-7 years now. Switching jobs doesn’t help either.
No, most companies today go for cheap, not quality. In order to increase my rate, I had to specialize. It helped for a few years, then it started all over again, having to compete with low cost foreigners. I had to prove myself better all the time or I would be replaced. That was a government gig I had for my last 11 years in the business as a senior project leader consultant for the State of New Jersey Judiciary. There was as many contractor/consultants as there were employees, and about 70% of the hired help was foreign green card holder contractors. That was 10 years ago, I’m sure it’s worse now.