The contraction in entry-level tech hiring appears to have reversed

I find this data counter-intuitive. I've always heard anecdotally that the market for new grads was really good in the 2017-2021 window, yet this seems to show the opposite? Unless I'm misunderstanding the data and it's the slope that matters here.

Either that, or else the people pushing the idea that the market was really good were those in the top 5% of grads that were getting offers north of 150-200k...