Quite apart from the fact that in the jobs 'market', one side is forced to participate, else they starve.
Market pressures for thee, but not for me.
Big tech are among the top tier businesses. So I don't think it's fair to compare them to average employees. Rule #1 if you want to do well in the market is not to commoditize yourself, and average employees are commodities: people who slot into job titles with almost no differentiation between others competing for the same job title.
It's more accurate to big tech to top tier employees. Your execs, your staff engineers, your top sales talent, your startup founders who get acquired. Just like big tech, these people have a lot of negotiating power, tons of options, sometimes multiple clients, and often a nest egg so they can take time off work and be picky.
Your other points about differentiation are especially valid, now, but the great mass of people have limited capability there. Should they just starve?