In the May issue of Air Line Pilot magazine (page 18), there's a chart of FAA ATP-ME licenses issued from July, 2013, through 2016: 25977 including 4180 r-ATPs (16%).
[My computer skills are apparently not up to grabbing the chart and posting it here.]
While not addressing the issue of new license starts, it's still part of the puzzle. I'd like to know how many foreign nationals who left for home post-licensing are part of that 25977. My guess is not as many who got a CL/IR/ME and then left.