First Officer,
I think you make a very good point. When I was starting out it was the same, how could one possibly get a foot on the ladder without at least 1000hrs experience.. How do you get that experience without having placed that foot on the ladder? It appeared a vicious circle, with no way in..
How many other industries would consider that the more experience you gain, the less attractive you are as an employment proposition? Become a Registrar at a hospital, and find yourself costed out of the job by a junior doctor.... mmm
LIkewise if I was to cross a bridge i would want to know that the designer had had a lot of experience before being allowed to be let loose on such a safely critical item...., not just a university graduate.
It is a measure of the industry, and the skills of the existing flight decks that so many "junior pilots" have been absorbed without any major problems..