I'd like them to define "forced", I don't think there really is any mechanism for an employer to compel anyone to do things.
People learn to fly because they like flying, it is fun. Because people like to fly, the going rate for piloting is low. If people didn't like flying so much, the rates would be higher.
At very low wage levels, near the subsistence level, the supply curve may also be curved backwards for a completely different reason. That effect creates an "inverted S" or "backward S" shape: a tail is added at the bottom of the labour-supply curve shown in the graph above with the quantity of labour-time supplied falling as wages rise. Then, because families face some minimum level of income needed to meet their subsistence requirements, lowering wages increases the amount of labour-time offered for sale. Similarly, a rise in wages can cause a decrease in the amount of labour-time offered for sale, and individuals take advantage of the higher wage to spend time on needed self- or family-maintenance activities. [3] [4]
There's certainly a mechanism by which an industry can compel its workers not to leave the industry - the cost of retraining. Most countries front-load training for jobs into 2-5 years near the beginning of people's adult lives putting them into debt - but they're often not able to retrain later on, due to debts (remaining loans from the first time, a mortgage, a car, etc) and responsibilities (often having a family). I don't know anyone with a family who could realistically spend a couple of years working part-time so they could free up the time to go to college again.
Pilot pay varies widely depending on airline, seniority and rank. The big gap is between the regionals (low to mid five figures) and the major carriers (six figures).
Depends on the airline. Pilots of major legacy carriers (and not their low-cost spin-offs) are typically really well paid (sometimes excessively so). In Germany I'm aware of cases of >500k$ annually for end-of-their-career pilots. I believe the situation in the US is similar. However, pilots of low-cost carriers earn significantly less. In Europe I heard of salaries in the range of 50k$ annually. I would guess cargo carriers that are not 100% subsidiaries of legacy carriers are closer to low-cost carriers in their salaries
People learn to fly because they like flying, it is fun. Because people like to fly, the going rate for piloting is low. If people didn't like flying so much, the rates would be higher.