Lots of people are saying "the 767 will be the junior airplane from now on". It's true that soon most newhires will go to the 767, but won't that be temporary? There are 83 767 FOs right now. As their locks expire over the next year there will be 8 classes of 767 newhires to replace them. And then newhires will go to the 747 again. (And those 767 FOs will be stuck in their locks for 3 years, again. While junior newhires go to the 747).

Why would this hiring be any different than it was 3 years ago?

I think between retirements and attrition it's reasonable to expect at least 80 newhires will be needed every year. We're hiring at least that many this year.