More chemistry PhDs got both permanent employment *and* postdocs in 2021

I see that the Survey of Earned Doctorates has been out for a while, and the latest numbers are for the 2021 academic year. I'm very surprised to learn the number of chemistry PhDs heading to postdoctoral positions was actually up for 2021, as opposed to down (i.e. reflecting the "shortage" of postdocs that academics seemed to talk about.) 

Here are the numbers for 2021: 

• Definite postdoctoral training plans: 39.4%
• Definite employment plans: 31%
• Seeking employment or study: 27.5%  : 
• Other status: 2.0%

The numbers for 2020 were 36.2%, 29.7%, 31% and 2%. 

If you are one of the people who think "well, postdocs are a thing of the past, everyone's going to industry", you can see that (perhaps) in the mild uptick in the "definite employment plans" numbers and the number of people with definite employment and postdoctoral plans is going up (i.e. the "seeking" numbers are down. If you're one of the folks who are skeptical, well, here's the data to be skeptical with. 

I've long been confident about the SED's numbers - they're the only numbers we have, and the response rate for this year is (as usual) quite good at 91.5%. That said, that the numbers do not reflect intuitions can only mean one thing - either the numbers are wrong, or our (including my!) intuitions are wrong. 

*A reminder: "seeking" doesn't mean "I'm flat unemployed", it could mean "I am currently negotiating an offer" as well.)