Actually the pay has gone down since I worked for a regional (back then they were called commuter airlines). My starting pay back in 87 for flying a 19 seat turboprop was equal or greater than todays starting pay to fly a 50-70 seat jet, plus I got full insurance coverage for me and my family. Now if you factor in inflation guys are starting out now are working for less than 1/2 what it was when I was the same place! One of the differences was back then it took at least 2500TT and 500ME to even get considered for a job.