Worzel,
There was an interesting post from somebody who had 1500 hour turboprob time and who lost out to his 200hr girlfriend who offered to pay for her own B737 TR. My interpretation was there is definately a market for very Junior F/Os who are willing to save the employer a considerable sum in gaining their employment. Maybe worth searching that one out again.
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Well put Prob30.
There is a very elegant and natural load-balancing process in action right now. Whilst the market is reeling from the recent depression, the low income from fares has pushed the cost to those whose services are least in demand and who would benefit most, namely the wannabes. When, the proverbial big heavy compressor fan starts to spool up, then the costs will be swung back to those who benefit the most from standing the training costs, namely the employers.
There is no point moaning about how much profit x, y and z have made recently. Anything tied to econmonics posses a huge amount of latent inertia. Yes the profits are comming back in, currently taking up the slack in the market. When that reserve is used then see just how the employers attitudes change. Could take a while though.