As it should be.
The situation at the moment is about as it should be, although it seems that there are still some pilots who do not even get a reply from airline recruiting offices. This is probably a temporary situation that will sort itself out in due course.
Our airlines have had an enormouus surplus of CPL's to pick from for decades, and have also had people with ATPL's and some with jet endorsements knocking on their doors. Mostly they knocked on the doors when the airlines did not need any more pilots, and they were ignored. One bloke I spoke to had "purchased" 300 hours of 737 time with an asian airline and still could not get a job in Australia after that. Another had gone to the US and flown a Lear jet for a few years. He could not get an airline job in Australia either. These blokes could not even get a job flying piston engined aircraft in Australia.
That was about 18 months ago. Things have changed a bit since then. But not a lot. Not as much as many people think. I'm not sure there is a shortage. If there was a real shortage pilots would get a reply from the airline recruiting office. A country GA outfit was looking for an instructor. They did not get the usual flood of applications they were used to. But they did find a local bloke who is qualified and happy to work part time, which suited fine. (he makes much better money doing something else). Is this a shortage? I think there are others who have qualifications and some experience who may come back if things get sensible again. At one time Alice Springs had about fifty CPL holders in town without flying jobs. Is it a shortage if you don't have a big surplus like that??
What the airlines are talking about is a shortage of people who have spent lots and lots of dollars to get the qualifications needed and then are prepared to wait for years until the airlines call for them.
I have yet to see a cadet scheme that the airlines are paying for. Nor have I heard of a cadet scheme which involves guaranteed employment with the nominated airline on completion.
When I see that, and some good salaries, I will believe there is a shortage.