The regionals are struggling to find people because it's a pretty ****ty job. Many of us have gone on to other parts of the industry and I'm not just talking about major airlines and foreign carriers like Cathay and Emirates. Regional pilots have discovered that flying for Net Jets or another good fractional beats the hell out of regional flying. Regionals that used to be halfway palatable to fly for now suck mightily. Case in point - SkyWest. I have friends there with 400 hours time away from base and 10 days off thanks to a computerized bidding system that is used to make up for crew shortages. These are not junior people.
Corporate flying is attracting some regional pilots as well. A good corporate job can offer a better lifestyle than most majors.
The VLJ's will offer employment opportunties soon.
The regionals are in trouble. For them there is a pilot shortage. They built a business model based on unrealistic wage assumptions and now they can't find people.
In short there is no pilot shortage in the US. The good jobs have plenty of applicants. Do you hear Southwest complaining about lack of applicants. FedEx and UPS have no trouble recruiting. The only ones with a problem are bottom feeder regionals. Anyone with reasonably decent quals can go elsewhere. Why would someone want to put up with the abuses of working for a regional if they can make more and work less elsewhere. Plus you no longer have the mainline legacy carrier job carrot dangling in front of you. Work rules and compensation at some of the legacy carriers are a joke. They won't retain people like they used to.