US pharma hires few if any organic chemists any more. That work got offshored a decade ago.

This is true. It's not only outsourcing, but also the shift from small molecules to large molecules (proteins, antibodies). Pharma companies have shed thousands of chemists over the past 10 years. I know a few who have been able to hold onto their jobs, but it hasn't been pretty.

Just to add more context, I used to work as a chemistry researcher and when I first started job hunting in the early 2000's pharma was desperate for organic chemists. You could apply to 5 openings and get 5 offers.

Most of the folks I knew who were chemists have moved onto other roles/industries.

This is a HUGE point. It was once thought that being a chemistry PhD was a shoe-in for industry work, and you could skip being a postdoc entirely.

I met a very respected chemist at AACR last year who said all of his postdocs were scrambling for work, and that some were being realistic and considering moving to China for the opportunities.

I know lots of biochem phds from my grad program. The median jncome is around $50k. Many had to apply to hundreds of places to land a job.