the price of our labour is little different to the price of anybody elses labour. It is a market driven price and that market is just as alive today as it has ever been. What has changed is deregulation. In particular I am referring to the regulatory authorities being pursuaded to create a much simpler rulebook.
When most of us were in the early stages of our careers we either came up through the military, or through a general aviation based series of entry level jobs that eventually resulted in sufficient experience to apply for the turboprop level jobs or jobs with smaller carriers. Eventually within one companies structure, or by moving to another carrier we made our way up through a reasonably structured system that enabaled us to advance higher up the tree, to the level we either are or would eventually reach.
The standards expected by the regulator and the carriers themselves, set the benchmark requirements for each stage of progression. The limitation that put on the supply chain set the market price that could be demanded. Variations from time to time, were then as a result of fluctutions in demand over any given cycle.
The advent of the low cost airlines, with their aircraft orders in the hundreds, should (notwithstanding competition casualities) have brought with it a surge in demand that actually raised the pilots market price. However that was completely at variance with the whole "low cost" concept. So something had to be done. Since the regulator wouldn't allow them to simply ditch one crewmember (as had previously happened with the introduction of the "glass cockpit" generation of jets) a way had to be found to make the whole process of employing one or both pilots much cheaper. The obvious way was to increase the supply, but this was difficult given the experience base required. The answer was to remove the experience base. That is what we have seen in abundance on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the world.
In the last decade the pilot joining in the right seat is no longer the 2000+ hour ex instructor, air taxi, regional airline, pilot. It is no longer the military career changer. It is now somebody with anywhere between 100 and 250 hours who has done some sort of "relevant airline tailored" course, and is incorporating this "job" as part of his ongoing training. These people are clamouring to take up this seat and will pay significant sums of money for the opportunity to sit there.
I asked a regulatory Operation inspector on a route check a few years ago, how the regulator viewed this rapidly growing concept. His honest answer was, that provided there was sufficient experience in the left seat, and the other pilot held the requisite qualifications, the regulator had no particular concerns in this regard.
So the airlines and initially the low cost airlines now a plentiful supply of applicants who no longer needed experience to occupy this seat. Not only that but some airlines had people paying them to sit there. This distortion in the market has resulted in a massive oversupply, that coupled with a global downturn in demand, is now feeding through as a wholesale "slash and burn" for terms & conditions at the entry level. If it hasn't happened at your company yet, it is probably on the way soon.
In the other seat, you have seen increases in the retirement age from age 55-60 to age 65. This has taken significant pressure on the left seat demand by virtue of natural turnover, and again coupled with the recession has hurt the market value of pilots in that seat.
In the US you are now starting see to see governmental concern at pilots experience levels, as a result of a couple of profiled accidents. This is likely to result in the regulator being forced to adopt higher entry level experience requirements for airline First Officers. Inevitably that same regulatory scrutiny will be forced on the no doubt "kicking and screaming" airlines this side of the Atlantic eventually.
Given time (5-10 years) the increased retirement age will also level itself out as a market distortion factor. So I do believe things will improve eventually, however in the short/medium term it is likely to be something of a bloodbath.