I still say the reason for low wages is because of the nature of the business with regards to regional airlines. They are in the business of sub-contracting their services in order to operate given routes on behalf of the major.

While it is admirable to desire a higher wage structure, the economics and business structure of the industry make it prohibitive. I'm sure the dishwasher would love to be making around $40,000.00 per year, but the restaurant would price itself out of business in order to support those wages.

Many routes flown by regional jets today on behalf of a mainline carrier were flown by DC-9's and 737's years ago owned and operated by the mainline carrier. The only reason those crews were paid a substantial amount then compared to the regional crews now is due to the business structure of the carrier. All of the revenue from all of the flying went into the same bank account.