A good analogy here is the "pilot shortage" US airlines have been complaining about for the past few years. The truth is that there's no shortage of competent

A good analogy here is the "pilot shortage" US airlines have been complaining about for the past few years. The truth is that there's no shortage of competent people who'd like to be airline pilots. There's arguably not even a shortage of competent people who already possess the training and credentials. There is a shortage of people who are willing to put their expensive training to use at the near-starvation wages offered for entry-level positions with US airlines. So people either don't bother learning to fly, or if they do, they go sign with Asian or middle-eastern airlines, which have been expanding and are willing to pay good salaries for US-trained pilots. Would you argue that pilots who demand more money than a US airline is willing to pay "don't understand how much they're worth"?