Students find the ATR type rating to be much more difficult as it is more complicated than other medium sized turbofan aircraft for example. Despite avionics / automation is pretty much the same, turbofan pilots who are looking to progress on to heavy glass cockpit turboprop aircraft can find it a struggle. Hence why turbofan pilots can also be perceived as a training risk so it works both ways really.
With regards to the rate of pay I agree if you include the likes of the US then the regional pay is very poor in comparison. However Europe and other parts of the world the story can be quite different. I know from my own personal experience that my rate was a lot more than that of the typical LCC`s, it just depends on which airlines we`re comparing. I agree that an airline stands a fighting chance to survive any minor economic shocks if it is cash rich although any major shocks will certainly see major cutbacks with a lot of assets to redeploy. There is a very high dependence on seasonal demand with leisure routes being severely affected. Anyway, starting to diverge from topic here.