Econ 101: Pay Cuts for Pilots Reduces Supply

The New York Times, reporting on new dynamics in airline piloting as a career, lower wages and higher costs to enter the field, notes that there are now shortages of pilots.

When you can reasonably be expected to leave flight school with upwards of $100,000 in debt, and where starting salaries can be as low as $21,000 a year, and where senior level salaries have been cut by as much as 1/3, is it any wonder that the pool of entrants is shrinking?

It does not help that once you join an airline, you are pretty much a slave, since a move entails throwing out all of one's seniority.

Safety is suffering too, with flight hours required for an interview falling.