This is apparent in the UK, where there is a two-tier market (IMHO). Those that are good at what they do and recognise their value, go semi-independent and sell to the highest bidder on a day rate.
Then there is the perm market, which pays very few people all that well, and is a constant source of complaints - "we can't fill our vacancy for X niche skill at £30k per year!". Well no, you can't, because that niche skill commands four times that, and you're thinking about software engineers as if they were office juniors, not highly skilled professionals. At this end, it is a sucker shortage.
They'll fill that role, eventually, and they'll get someone with low productivity that produces unreliable software, and they'll feel justified in their vicious low-pay, low-expectations cycle.