Originally Posted by krudawg

There may not be a shortage according to ALPA but to me the future looks pretty bright for aspiring pilots. When I was looking for a pilot job back in the late 70's to mid-80's flying jobs were scarce - commuter airlines were very hard to get hired into. The majors were hiring like crazy in the late 70's then slammed into reverse and started furloughing. There were few ad's in the newspaper and magazines for pilots. Fast-forward to now; I'm getting postcards from Regional Airlines requesting that I call them for a job with some even paying a hiring bonus -they are about 29 years too late as I am in the sunset of my career with a Legacy Airline. Flight Training schools have programs that will have pipelines to regionals who are paying those pilots a $10,000 rebate for the flight training expenses. It's not a lump sum but is paid monthly up to $400/mo in return the new pilot must sign a 2 years contract with the regional. Folks, these kinds of deals did not exist back in the 80's (when there was no shortage, apparently). You can make comments of poor pay for those regionals but it looks to me like that pay will be rising.
Best of luck in your career; the sacrifice is worth the effort.