Nothing like a little BS with breakfast.
Wages in the contract engineering/ design realm are effectively down. I see scant job listings that are not about half to a third of what they were even five years ago. I know many in the field above the age of 40 that have quit looking in that area. Companies do not pay expenses for short term contracts and do not pay travel or lodging which used to be common. They won’t pay overtime until 45-50 hours in.
And on and...
Of course you can get 2 or 3 bare bones part time jobs and have fun juggling that as each employer wants your undivided availability. But they each count as a “new job”
And on and on...
And if you are over 50 good luck.
Wages in the private university sector were flat for 20 years (about 1%) and we grew faster than public universities. Wages in the film industry (when you can get a job) are terrible-—but still too high to prevent foreign sources from taking all the work. (See the on-line documentary “Life After Pi” about the Academy Award winning house that did “Life of Pi” then went out of business).