"There was 911, Afghanistan, Iraq, 2008 economic recession and as a result there was very little recruitment. Now that the airlines are expanding and have the cash they are recruiting a lot more."
You can take that further back to when Air Europe was around - the lack of pilots then has been masked by similar activity and has never really gone away.
We advise taking things one at a time. If your destiny involves being a pilot, then it will be, but you won't get there without a licence. Concentrate on that first then let the cards fall where they may.