Author here. For what it's worth, I added the conclusion pretty late in the game. When I first ran the data, it looked like engineers were barely getting laid off (because of engineers not opting in to layoff lists as much as others). And the graph about the bar going up came in as a zero hour suggestion from someone who proofread the piece.

Believe me, I'd be much happier if eng hiring were back in full swing. With all the freezes and layoffs, we've taken a bigger hit than we can hope to gain back by shilling interview practice.