I know it sounds really snobbish, but it's really turning into a blue collar job, also attracting pilots with a blue collar background. These people only stare at the salary, compare it to their friends who have factory or mediocre office jobs and think they've won the lottery.
In the old days, flying was for the elite. Pilots sort of belonged to this elite and enjoyed a great lifestyle with fantastic salaries without working too bloody hard, hence for example today's outdated FTD limits. It's an relique from a glorious past. Nobody was paying for type ratings 15-20 years ago, but with the advent of 'cheap/easy credit,' flying became more accessible but it also attracted a different kind of pilot.
To make matter worse, in a well meant effort to not bite the hand that feeds them this wonderful salary, these next generation (highly leveraged!) pilots now think it's best to not be too militant in their (traditional blue collar) support to unions with a dramatic effect on the lifestyle, T&C's and unknown long term health effects.
It's the worst of both worlds really.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm all for "equal opportunities" and I really respect that a lot of people worked very very hard to get where they are today, but in today's shrinking job market it can only mean one thing for our future T&C's: down!
As MainDude correctly said, it's all about supply/demand and evolution. It's therefore that I'm seriously contemplate 'evolving' into another industry, leaving my seat for some other idiot to endure their future employer's "costs saving measures" and "type rating schemes" merely for the privilege of pressing some buttons on a flight deck.