3 years freelance here. The industry is far from doom la. No matter how graphic design is a necessity. It just depends on who you meet and what business plan you have. Old traditional company are the ones you are referring to in your case as many of them don't care much for visual design as they thought it's easy to make them and they don't tend to invest much.

The thing is if you are hoping that graphic design here can one day become famous like in the US then you gonna die poor. As a freelance I pick up a lot of other work. Some ppl make cloths to sell want logo etc are one of the better work as they are more generous. Printing for local book cover, printing for tourist badge, printing for sme. Tons of place you could scrap for a living.

Your worst customer usually comes from "big company" who wants to get things done but not willing to pay much for the service. They demand free pdf files but not going to pay extra for them.

I am in the process of upgrading as I have found a new field that require a mix of art and graphic design and this industry is growing Super fast since its gov supported.

In the past I don't dare to approach gov body cause I have heard of case where they demand you to hike up your service price so they can get a "cut" out from it which is illegal and dangerous. Hopefully new gov not doing the same sh*t.

In my own opinion at this point it's not all doom and gloomy, it's just that many graphic designer either get tie down dead by the company or unable to explore.

My 1st year as a freelance I walk trough countless printing shop within and outside of K.L giving out name cards as well as camping at business reg center to give out my business card. The problem with the graphic market is the old guys have live trough it just fine in the past. So if you are hoping to grow trough them it's going to spell doom. What graphic designers should focus on is to find a company or by yourself to help those growing and in need, genuine ones pay for the service but you won't be able to avoid "bad" customers as a service so make sure to set up your own rules.

It's not hard to live around 3 - 4K salary. But if you want more you'll have to upgrade or own your own production firm.

DO NOT GIVEOUT FREE PDF. I see a lot of young kids from graphic design give out free PDF to customer because they say it's a practice norm. This help kill part of the industry because once they have your stock work they can modify them as they see fit and you will not have business anymore. So not only you where paid peanuts for your work you also effectively give them a reason not to find designers since they have already got the basic formula that they could modify at anytime for their own purpose.

Can PM me here if you have question, I'm off from all work related job atm due to personal reasons and would only be around forum from time to time to check on updates.

I may be available if job isn't running on crunch time.