Let's see at 250 hrs you can fly people, at 500 hrs you can do day VFR 135, at 1200hrs you can fly 135 operations, at 1500 hrs you can fly for a 121 airline, at 1000hrs 121 experience you can be a CA. So yes each of those jobs pays more than the other. And each one requires more experience. So your argument is invalid.

To add onto that most regional airlines will hire you at 1500hrs but unless you are military no major airline will touch you. So you build experience or as we call it flight time. Once you are competitive you can interview with a major airline and then make even more $.