Sadly it does Keg.
Interesting stats I came across some time ago when researching for the pre GFC expansions, and their effects on a certain regional airline.
The number of Australian CPL's issued (Australian citizens only) in 1991 was somewhere in the vicinity of just over a thousand. With the exception of the heady post Top Gun days of the mid eighties, this number had been relatively constant. As flying became much more commonplace among the general populous, many a starry eyed yuppie faced economic reality, and the constant wearing away of dreams by the sometimes cruel mistress that is GA took it's toll, this number declined at a fairly steady rate.
By 2004 the number of Australian CPL's issued to Australian citizens for that year had dropped to about 90+! So, in 13 short years the participation rate for the profession had declined by a factor of 10!
GA is now a shadow of it's former self, and by and large fewer young people see flying as the career it once was. The price of success? Perhaps. The trouble is, the far too clever for their own good micro managers, HR cretins, and airline bosses who now hold little or no depth of knowledge of the industry, have continued the decline by a constant attack on working conditions, and the once hallowed profession of Airline Pilot.
So what do these brainiac's then do? Incapable of recognizing the true nature of the problem, they compound it! Indentured and debt ridden 300 hour wannabee's in the RHS of Jet airliners. Flexi-line! Working conditions and pay packets constantly under attack in pursuit of the almighty KPI.
The end result. People that would never have made it to the RHS of a domestic jet a decade or so ago. People who haven't (through no real fault of their own) had the opportunity through a tough apprenticeship, to either comprehend, or to appreciate what the profession really means.
Why? Because these are now the only people they can get.
Where will it end? I shudder to think!