Protectionism is wildly successful for South Korea, Japan, Scandinavia and several other industrialized countries. North American Free Trade has decimated the middle class in the U.S. and parts of Canada. It has given rise to the "3 part-time jobs in the service sector just to keep my head above debt, as I compete with temporary workers" career profile.
Airline pilot hiring is quite outside the mainstream job market.
It is the exception and few generalizations apply.
China? Don't get me started...