Having seen many economic cycles this is standard and indeed far less severe than what has occured before.
The economies of Asia are already starting to improve (and with them cargo and pax loads) and the rest of the world will ineviatably follow, it's just the rate of improvement that is unknown.
As for pilots; on a global level there just aren't enough. There might be too many in South Africa or the UK but temporary economic hiccups notwithstanding they are short in the Middle East and many parts of Asia and will only become more so.
As a result of huge airliner buying sprees over the last few years there are simply not enough qualified and experienced pilots globally to fly these aircraft. Whilst it might mean the ability to move away from ones' homeland to fly professionally there will be jobs galore in the next 5 years for aviators.
Along with this inevitable shortage/crisis (which we were actually already seeing before it was masked by the current temporary economic wobbles) will be a great improvement in Professional aircrew terms and conditions. There must be - it's simple Economics 101 - Supply and Demand.
Pilots are aging and retiring and there aren't that many to replace them. The military aren't letting go of crews (they have either already gone or are busy supporting historically very much downsized airforces in Afghanistan/Iraq etc). Young commercial pilots aren't training because it's too expensive and the perceived rewards are (correctly) not worth the initial financial outlay.
So it's important not to get caught up in the Chicken Little The Sky Is Falling mentality of analysing how many jobs have been lost at which carriers and look at the big-picture and longer term.
Yes sure the above figures are of concern, particularly if you are one of those affected but they are most likely to be used by unscrupulous managers as an excuse as to why they can reduce your current employment terms. Don't fall into that trap.
For pilots with a decent amount of jet time the future is very rosy indeed.