The only part of the NZ industry that 'needs' 900 new starters a year would be the flying schools....even 200/yr would seem to leave some room for the backlog to stay backlogged for some time yet.
When you see jobs being advertised at entry level outfits with good pay and general conditions going begging for several weeks you might then suggest there was a shortage of 'pilots'..as it stands airlines are suddenly finding the pool of very experienced and/or type rated people is actually drying up...they have been spoiled for choice for a considerable time and are now just beginning to get a bit of a reality check.
Been in this industry for 25yrs and have seen it before...boom and bust. The only bright point for long term job security and better T&Cs is Asia....it's such a potentially huge economy spread over a wide geographic area that there is some hope that the looming experienced pilot shortage...guys with 10000++ hrs and lots of jet time...might actually reverse the downward spiral of T&Cs of the last 10 yrs....we live in hope.