I think this is going to be the problem. There are still lots of people who just hear the name Cathay Pacific and assume it is still this legacy airline. Which it still could be but just not at these current conditions. Hopefully all the newbe's will do some research and learn a). you can't afford to live in Hong Kong under the current conditions and b). it is significantly less than they were offering just a mere 2.5 years ago! Nothing has changed financially for them, its actually just gotten better after the recession with record profits of $1.6-1.8 billion usd. There is no reason for CX to offer these conditions.
Sorry for the vent. I want to work for Cathay too, but I will not under these conditions. Good luck...