Allright ChrisH, why don't you get your calculator out.
You are a newhire FO at Company A. Life is great, you are having a blast flying your shiny RJ and making $22/hr an hour. You don't care about the pay, you are single and love Ramen. Plus you get to tell girls at the bar that you are an airline pilot. Lets take a look at your pay progression. I am assuming average industry pay for 50 seaters (I averaged CHQ, AWAC, TSA, ASA, XJT, and MESA) and average upgrade times.
Year 1 - $22,000/yr
Year 2 - $31,000/yr
Year 3 - $33,000/yr
You are about to upgrade to captain, you got married a year ago and now your wife is expecting your first child but then the economy goes in the sh!tter and you are furloughed. You weren't with the company long enough to be fully vested in your 401k so you can kiss those company contributions goodbye. Now youre also out on your ear for a year looking for a new job (during which time you no longer have any health benefits). Hope the wife has a good job. After a year of pounding the pavement, luck smiles on you and you get picked up at another regional (remember, the majors won't touch you because you still don't have any 121 turbine PIC time and there were a ton of other guys more qualified than you that got furloughed too). Now youre at Company B.
Year 1 - $20,000/yr
Year 2 - $28,000/yr
Year 3 - $31,000/yr
Year 4 - $60,000/yr (after your upgrade)
Again, you are about to upgrade at year 3 with Company B. You have now been in the industry for 7 years before you upgrade (albeit one of those years you were furloughed earning $0/yr from the airline industry). But lets look at that average airline pay over that period. I come up with $23,571 AVERAGE over that 7 year period. Now do you get it? What you PLAN and what actually happens to you in this industry seldom bear any resemblance. It's always nice to expect the best but you should always be prepared for the worst. Optimism is great but just be sure to put some sunscreen on that cornhole or you might get burned from all the sunshine.