Airlines who pay peanuts only attract those with limited intelligence, who are prepared to work for peanuts, thus only attracting those of limited intelligence, etc etc etc.
The airlines that pay ok are then forced into the same circle to compete. It'll only end after several monkeys bury an aeroplane. One won't be enough as pax have short memories and shallow pockets.
Just have a look at any of the ryanair threads. Pages and pages of the testimony to the folly of buying a job there, to the tyrranous conditions, to the treachery of management, of how it will suck the life from you, and every now and again some young (and they're mostly young) fool asks how best to join.
Stupid and also clearly illiterate.
The profession has been dumbed down to an unbelievable degree, the calibre of entrants is substantially lower than in the past and only when they wake up will we have any chance.