The gripe I hear from colleagues is X, Y, Z always ending in 'and they take £££ from me a day!'
My post notes the problems with the model, but it isn't broken.
That is only a true conclusion if the hiring market is a Perfect Market.
Not necessarily. They have not died out only because of lazy employers. Employers do not mind paying extra cash since they are too busy to even take an extra 10 mins out to quickly screen candidates. Having said that, I have come across some good recruiters who actually know the employers well, understand the industry and are not complete jerks. But that is like a needle in a haystack.
Good at recruiting is not equal to "know their employers well, understand the industry and are not complete jerks". Good is getting a candidate placed as smoothly and swiftly as possible.
"taking an unfair share for which they will lowball the candidates". Better become a better negotiator then. If you know your market value, this is what the client is willing to pay for you. They don't even factor in the agent fee as they are paying £xxx for a developer.