Catch 22 !!
In such a tight-lipped industry we operate in its hilarious how "someone has heard"...,"announcement to come next week"...,"DEC's coming"..., etc. Maybe it might happen, maybe not, but have a look at the endless possibilities:
Where are they going to come from? (assuming that the requirements set will be wide body command time) China expats make double what we make, so I really can't see them coming from there. Lots of Euro capts have come recently and failed FO interviews here, so unless they are coming from retired positions in KLM, AF, speedbird, QF... I don't see the pass rate being great at all!
Younger FOs with 2500 hrs will continue to flood in from everywhere with the dreams of flying something big but I'm pretty sure higher hour boys and girls will stop. So in a few years, since we'll have a majority of low hour FOs, the company would have only two choices for upgrade; lowering the requirements again or higher more DECs to cover the lack of 'suitably qualified FOs'.