Of course there have been "shortages". Hiring standards go up and down based on the pool of canidates. There would not have been pilot puppy mills had the standards not dropped in the late 90's. The problem is that there hasn't been a crash like some hope to see. No one is offering to pay a university grad to go to pilot school and fly for a major. The military still cranks out free pilot ratings to those who choose to serve. It's just in smaller numbers. It's numbers in, numbers out. Pilots will start retiring in 2013 and the economy will improve. Grandma still needs to see the grandkids and businessmen still need to meet and greet.