The only pilot shortage airlines have is a shortage of gullible pilots who will work more hours for less money, and who will pay for their own training, type rating and line training.
Other than that, THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF PILOTS!
By spreading the same lies year after year, decade after decade, airlines hope to inflate the supply of pilots in order to force down T&C's.
So far they have been getting away with it, just look at what's going on in Europe (easyJet, Ryanair, Air Berlin, Wizzair etc) and over in Asia (Air Asia, Lion Air, Air Hong Kong, Hong Kong Airlines, Scoot, Jetstar etc).