There is also another 'elephant in the room' and that is the supply of flight crews from states that have lower living wages, which provides a lower cost pilot body for any airline.
Lets take for example the US, with a large number of carriers covering international routes with types that are also in use with carriers in low living wage countries, an airline as an employer has the capability of employing someone suitably rated and with time on type that enables the capacity for a lower cost pilot that has the requisite experience. the long short can invariably lead to a stagnation level for career development for US citizen pilots, who will be left picking up the jobs on regional and internal lo-co carriers, while the long term career prospect, the long haul and heavy aircraft flying on routes that can be crewed by destination locals.
of course this is just conjecture, however in a competitive market dominant forces are costs. and with the capacity to reduce those costs, its a simple equation of economics, however, here in western Europe this is already starting to occur with lower cost employees filling the shoes of the locals who *need* a higher wage to survive.
Now look at places like Mexico and some other countries.. want a commercial licence, you wont be getting one unless you are a citizen of that state. protectionism? well, yes it is.