I'm with you captbob, there never has been a "pilot shortage" and never will be.
One thing perhaps is being missed in this calculation. Not so many years ago it was common for an airline pilot to retire on a good pension at 55-ish. In the last 80's a few airlines extended this to 60; all controlled by their pension schemes. (There are still some legacy carriers with a pension age of 55-58ish. Good luck to the lucky few.) Then the vast majority of airlines extended to 60 and no pension scheme. Then, under EU rules, the age has been extended to 65, and still often no pension scheme. Thus old farts are finding it very necessary to stick it out until national pension kicks in. There has been an expansion of the industry with LoCo's and the major's all expanding as the population pollution of the travelling public has ever increased. If the pension age was reversed to 60, then do the calculations about pilot shortage. Wow; what a shock. The expansion we've seen might not ever have been able to happen. Discuss.
It's a chicken and egg. If supply meets demand, or is just a bit in surplus, that explains why T's & C's have declined. One of the root causes of that has been the increase in pension age, IMHO. It's not reversible. Live with it, but fight the declines.