> When covid cut off the immigration spigot for just a little bit

Did it though?

I think what was happening more was that there was functionally UBI for around a year and a half in several western countries. This meant that the entire bottom of the labour market had no reason to go to work, and were being strongly encouraged not to, so the ones who did go to work were in a strong negotiating position.

This isn't an endorsement of UBI btw. Assuming the central banking system doesn't collapse the debt generated by those payouts won't be paid off until our great grandchildren's generation.