There is no pilot shortage in the US. Just a shortage of pilots willing to work for what management wants them to. That is why there is so much hype right now. Whoever said that working for a regional is better than Cathay should just go try it for a little while. Are we underpaid for flying big jets, YES! Do we need a pay rise, especially considering HK is so expensive - an emphatic YES!
Are the articles talking about a pilot shortage trying to increase supply, so that the supply curve shifts to the right and wages go down - Bingo! It's not rocket science people. The fact that Cathay has effectively trained warm bodies to be pilots will eventually come back to bite the airline, but for now they have shifted the supply curve out..... and they win on the wage front.
What are we going to do about it? Do regulatory agencies around the world know how little experience our SO's have? Would they allow two SO's to occupy the flight deck on an airplane that holds mainly it's citizens?