I know also that the major carriers are about to open up a bunch of jobs because so many dudes are coming up on the 65 mark for retirement...
Heard that several times from many SWA and like commercial pilots.
Was talking about this today with guys at work. Seems in 2010 there was only 350 ish commercial tickets issued, that and the fact that alot of guys will be hitting the number around the 2012/13 change seems to indicate there will be a heavy need for stick monkeys.