To be clear, we are explicitly talking about reducing employment; reducing the number of developers eligible to work directly reduces employment, because there

To be clear, we are explicitly talking about reducing employment; reducing the number of developers eligible to work directly reduces employment, because there are fewer left to be employed. Then consider the second-order effects. When wages rise, some development tasks are no longer worth performing, because they cost more than the value they create. In theory whole industries could become unsustainable if developers are very scarce, with knock-on effects on other professions.