I think this guy's video about pilot production/hiring stats may shed some light on why the bloom is off the E3 rose these days. Probably worth 31 minutes of time for those interested in such topics.
You can pick apart a few of his stats like retirement numbers. But even with his sources, he's probably plenty close enough for purposes of discussion.
He starts off talking about the Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) system in the US so you may not be interested in that. Go to 6:30 where he gets into the meat of his message.