Part of the wider issue in the fall of people taking up aviation is just the sheer amount of effort/cost required to get anywhere near a decent paying airline job and the fact that you are totally beholden to your employer for your income once you get there. Pilots are not professionals by definition and cannot setup shop somewhere and sell their skills like a Doctor/Accountant/Dentist/Lawyer/Engineers can. Add to this problem there is no real means of operating your own business in aviation due to the enormous barriers to entry. So your entire income stream hinges on the success/failure of your airline executive.
It is also interesting to note too that these executives are all too keen to openly talk about and foster 'executive talent' and create 'career pathways' to keep office dwellers in a job. So much so they will just create jobs out of thin air to keep people in the business.
Pilots however have had their flying careers isolated and destroyed by sub contracting and the silo affect of airline businesses.Then add to all this inflexible rostering, hard line industrial stances with a lifetime of permanent shift work, does not make for a pleasant outlook. Personally I think the issues around the lack of rostering/lifestyle flexibility is going to really blow up airlines in the future as the younger generation are just not going to put up with it. People that essentially work Mon-Fri Office hours are complaining about work flexibility now, let alone with permanently shifting rosters, weekends, public holidays, Xmas etc. It is no wonder that the younger generation are walking away.