There will *never* be 'the great pilot shortage' - except for already experienced pilots with significant time on the currently in demand type.
Schools will always have greater capacity to churn out more wet-ink CPLs than there are airlines to take them. This leads to more & more inexperienced pilots accepting more of the training cost & burden eg speculative type ratings or reduced T&Cs to try to gain an advantage over the next guy.
There will always be large & unexpected downturns in the job market, as well as recovery periods where there is a more gradual period of hiring. It's these more gradual periods that tend to be rememembered as 'booms'.
In fact these recovery periods tend to be elastic. That is, the region, scope, duration & particular qualification demand is subject to more variables than is predictable.