To be fair to the ATC in terms of numbers, it should be considered against the demography of the ATC target cohort 13-ish to 20.
The size of that cohort has been falling; we can all remember a few years ago a number of primary schools closing or amalgamating because of falling rolls - that has now moved on to reduce the size of the pool in which the ATC can fish for cadets.
Not saying that lack of flying hasn't turned off some cadets, just saying it's not the only reason for falling numbers ......