With regard to the original point of the thread "will it get worse before it gets better" ultimately it depends if you are an experienced pilot or cadet. If your a cadet well things are as good as they have ever been with two of the biggest airlines in Europe recruiting exclusively cadets, however, if you are an experience pilot working for say Flybe, Eastern, Loganair, AerArann etc.. unfortunately now I feel you will face many glass ceilings ahead. It's sad as all these airlines have excellent training departments and pilots.
Surely it's all about BALANCE i.e. having a workforce that is from a mixture of backgrounds and experience. From my experience of recruitment, not just from aviation, is that too much of one thing is not good. In my previous job we had a graduate scheme which accounted for approx 15% of our new employees, the others were experienced professionals. Most other industry's recognise that a PORTION of recruitment should be graduates/apprenticeships but not the vast majority - that is unhealthy. Well ryanair is 100% cadets and easyjet not far off that (would be interesting to know what percentage of First Officers, over say the last three years, have been cadets) but it's certainly a majority. We all know (dear god do we know) that cadets are an important part of the process but NOT 100% of that process.
This relentless cadet recruitment over the last few years has really stagnated movement within the industry but the sad truth is that the likes of easyjet and ryanair realise there is an awful lot of money to be made from the recruitment of cadets and that there is an awful lot of willing people ready to hand them these huge amounts of money. Even more depressing was easyjet's recent "experienced" pilot recruitment scheme which involved paying for type ratings, no contract etc..
I certainly can't see easyjet/ryanair changing their recruitment methods, why should they? It's a great revenue stream for them and the training providers that they are tucked up in bed with. If anything I could see it becoming even more pay to fly (than it already is) i.e. pay type rating plus first 500hrs..
I for one am certainly "frustrated" with the current state of the industry and am actively working with our union and my airline to ensure we don't go down the road of paying up front for type-ratings/no contracts for new pilots.. I am happy that my airline does recruit from a mixture of backgrounds/experience, has a thorough but fair recruitment policy based on aptitude/personality/ability and not how much money you can throw at them/what flight school you went to.
As current pilots we all have a responsibility (if we chose to take it) to try and make the industry better and not worse.