Go East
ATRISGREAT/JOHN, I am sorry to see you comment "the ATR type rating is more expensive than an A320 or B737 TR". Whilst this may well have been your experience, the ATR rating is usually about half the price of the A320 or B737. The rating usually represents reasonable value and can be very useful for eventual transition to jets.
Yes, most of the best ATR opportunities at present are in the far east or even the middle east, but that is also the case for many aircraft types. ATR are still producing a good number of airframes (mainly the 72-500 with a few 42-500s) and s/n 900 (not a bad total for a turbo-prop producer) recently left the finishing line at Toulouse. The 72-500 has been popular due to its very good fuel economy (better than the Dash 8-400). The 42-500 is possibly the only 48 to 50 seater turboprop still in current production that can operate out of certain hot/high/short airfields.
Sadly ATRs have not been as popular in the UK. However, at some point companies such as Eastern with their Jetstreams and Air SouthWest with their Dash 8-300s will need replacement turbo-props. ASW will need something that can still operate out of Plymouth (the Dash 8-400 can't but the ATR42-500 can). There also seems to be some interest in operating out of places such as Gloucestershire, Oxford, etc where an ATR would be ideally suited and both the 42 and 72 are also approved for London City.
Yes, there still appears to be a significant number of experienced ATR pilots in Europe looking for work and if you have 500+ hours on type (and in some cases 1500+ hours total) the answer must be to "go east".