correct. they've mostly shifted to a militarized economy and all available labor is now gobbled up.

salaries are pretty good, relatively speaking, if you're in engineering or other STEM fields.

excess labor is being drained off to die horribly to drones in eastern Ukraine.

it's kind of like a fat guy starving to death -- for a minute all that weight loss will bring improvements to blood pressure, insulin, etc., but in a couple weeks he's not gonna feel so great