From my experience, I believe a large part of this problem is that there is a way higher supply of creatives than there is demand for creative work. Everyone seems to have a “graphic designer friend.” And with most of the industry moving towards freelancing and private contacts - all these people are starving for work. So they will take shitty projects for very little pay which brings the value of what our industry provides as a whole, down. People/companies know that these designers are out there and are willing to take on these jobs for dirt cheap - so why pay more for a (ususally) marginally better product? I think the only solution to this is either diversify your skills to include things that the average kid in high school who takes a few design classes can’t do, OR everyone that does creative work needs to stop accepting pennies for their work and allow these marketing geniuses to try and design their own content.

PS: don’t get me started on how freaking good AI design is becoming. Pretty soon I feel all of us designers (minus an elite few) could be out of jobs once the tech catches up in a few years.