Honestly I don't know, I'm a contractor and the place I'm just finishing with now is having trouble. The pay on offer for permanent staff here could well be terrible. The work certainly is, which is why I'm moving on.
I tend to agree with your viewpoint, particularly when it comes to arguments about the need to mass-import developers from overseas. Are you struggling to recruit due to a genuine shortage? Or are you trying to get people with good experience to work for you for £30K pa?
Yup--my guess is that most companies complaining about a shortage of talent can be addressed with: "Well, you offer terrible work and/or terrible pay. What do you expect?"
Paying more isn't really a global answer. Sure, I can pay more to grab you from someone else but then that other employer is short staff. Remote work may be answer for connecting lonely employees and employers, but remote work has its difficulties.
It depends - in the UK in particular a lot of salaries for tech folk are very low. So those with smarts and ambition either leave the country or head into (middle-)management hell.
A few more well=-paid positions might make a difference to the perceived value of technical staff in the country's small to medium businesses.
As is always the case when a claim is made about "companies having trouble finding developers" of some sort: Are they actually having trouble finding developers despite offering top-of-market salary, remote work and gold plated benefits? Or are they the usual "we think we offer above average salary with great benefits!" companies who get no interest from developers and conclude there's a shortage?