I believe that there will be some belt tightening in the industry over the short term (namely a couple of years) but overall, the trend is upwards. The industry is cyclical and if you're low on hours then it might be a bit of a struggle if you're restricting your options to jet FO only.
Always keep a weather eye on what's happening in the US and in Asia. Right now, flights are being cancelled because of not enough experienced pilots. However, their economy is slowing down. The building trade is definitely feeling the effects of the sub prime crash. Would I go full time now without the benefit of some sort of scheme, no. Would I commence a modular course while keeping a full time job? Yes.
At Flight Safety International in the States, the centre I'm at has no spare slots available for initial courses on the Hawker 800 XP for next year (2009). All slots sold already. The sim (Collins) is "flying" nearly 22 hours a day/7 days a week.
The people that fly on a Netjets or the like bizjet won't travel on a loco. Price is just one part of the equation. Will the market slow down? Possibly. No sign of it yet though. I think we're not far off the 1,000 pilot mark.