Originally Posted by Captain Tony

Home Depot doesn't pay anything close to $10-$25/hr and has very few full time employees in the store. I know because I used to work there.

But to answer your question, FOs are jumping ship from "legacy" regionals like ExpressJet because they've realized they will never upgrade as we retire airplanes with no replacements, and Captains begin to displace to the right seat. Contrary to popular opinion, unless you're an intern or a chief pilot's kid, you're not getting hired at a mainline carrier without turbine PIC time. Places like GoJets, Compass, and Mesa still have reasonable upgrade times. Up and out.