I was in a course of twelve young hopefuls in that did our CPLs in 2009. Half of us are currently flying commercially but none are in a big (or even medium size) airline, though being from New Zealand the path to an airline is much slower/ different:
I'm flying in Africa.
One is instructing at our flight school in NZ.
Two are in Papua New Guinea.
One is in Samoa.
One is in Australia.
As for the others, seems that they gave up looking for a flying job pretty quickly. I doubt any of that six even have their PPL privileges current any more.
Interestingly enough, the ones who are still flying had joined the course having already flown a few lessons, knowing what they were getting into and having dreamed of flying for a long time beforehand. The ones who are still sitting at home with an enormous student loan and no job to show for it, are the ones who seemed to suddenly decide one day that flying a big shiny jet and earning lots of money would be cool and 'maybe I could try that'. My four years of instructing showed the same trend over and over again. I haven't worked it out, but I would guess that less than half of my students have found their first job in aviation.
So would I recommend a career in aviation? Yes and no. For someone who has dreamed of it and has the passion and drive needed, the willingness to move away from home, and the ability to accept that their first job most likely won't be glamorous/ in a jet, then yes. For someone who woke up one day and thought that it would be fun, then no. Do a few lessons, wait a few years, then if it still sounds like a good idea, then perhaps it is?