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You may disagree with the way the TIOBE index is compiled, but it's hardly "arbitrary."

If you are using a popularity contest to choose your tooling you are choosing your tooling incorrectly.

Also it seems it would be helpful for you to read this: https://blog.nindalf.com/posts/stop-citing-tiobe/

OP is asking specifically about being highly employable. In that context, popularity is pretty directly relevant.