Parachute dropping & glider/banner towing seems to be the single biggest thing people look at to build hrs after they leave the flight schools, and alot of the time it's a closed shop, i.e. not what you know it's who you know. My perception, rightly or wrongly was that these positions were, and are never available because they have people queuing into the next town to do it.
That is in fact a logical deduction, you may think. In reality the opposite is true. When I went for job like that, a paying one I might add. I wasn't exactly optimistic. 'I suppose, I'm just one of many looking to fly for you?' says I. 'No, just you', was the reply. Other pilots have similar experiences.
It is in fact difficult to get pilots for these roles, because quite frankly it is beneath far to many pilots. On the other hand there is never a demand for newly qualified low time time pilots in relatively demanding single pilot operations. Neither are these operations in the business of carefully training a new pilot only for him or her to walk out a couple of months later or sometimes even days.
So it's a paradox, pilots are needed but not the kind of pilots offering themselves for these roles. Even in a recession.