Sadly you're right (or perhaps happily depending on your point of view). During the Great Recession a lot of drafters were put out of work. Myself I had to use a temp agency and was underemployed for about a year. Even so, the A/E firms that did retain drafters forced them to work with less pay and less benefits. Of those out of work, many retired or retrained for new professions, resulting in a partial "brain drain".
Once the economy started coming back, those who abandoned the drafters found that the pool for experienced talent was now limited, and they had to offer better employment packages to attract anyone of a decent level of talent and experience.
What seems to be left are very few persons of that caliber using temp agencies, meaning the few persons who do use them are generally not up to the minimum standards employers demand. I am probably wrong but that seems to be the trend over the past 8 years in my area.
Seattle should have bunches of drafters but probably a fair amount of newly-minted ones. The OP should investigate salary and benefit ranges for the area depending on experience, and offer something better than the bottom as well as dangling that carrot of opportunity for growth as the company grows - that sort of thing.
If by some odd chance my nattering was useful -- that's great, glad to help. But if it actually solved your issue, then please mark my solution as accepted 🙂
