I'm sorry, but after your first year you are making in the mid- 30's. After the second year at ASA, you have upgraded, and are making in the 60's. That is not extremely low pay. It is above the average income for the majority of states in the US. Where else can you work 3 or 4 days a week, and make $60,000 per year within a few years after getting hired? That first year is hard, but even that will change as the shortage deepens.
I'm tired of people complaining about this job. Do some research, and realize that we have it pretty good.
There IS a shortage though. What do you think all of those qualified pilots are doing? Corporate? There just aren't that many corporate pilots out there waiting for the regionals to increase their pay. The majors aren't experiencing a shortage yet because there are many qualified pilots coming from the regionals. Eventually, there won't be enough coming from there though, and even the majors and corporate will feel the crunch.
Between now and 2015, there's supposed to be a huge increase in the need for pilots (I don't remember the numbers), more than the flight schools are putting out. That, my friend, is a shortage, no matter how you spin it. We are just seeing the beginning of the shortage, and it isn't terrible yet, but it will be. It is a worldwide problem, given that the Asia market is just now getting its act together. Once the aviation market there gets spun up, we will really be having a major problem in the US staffing airlines and corporate jobs in all markets.