“anyone I know who lost a job and was fortunate enough to find another makes much less than before (even if it is doing the same work).”
At my Airport, American turned the station over to American Eagle to work all flights, including Mainline AA flights.
The $20+ an-hour American Airlines employees had the choice of transfer, retirement, or termination, and were replaced by new Eagle Employees at $9.50 an-hour.
And they had almost 1,000 applications for the 30-some jobs.
One of the biggest problems is that in a high-cost area people figure they’re better off on welfare than working for $9.50 per hour; I guess that is why the economy didn’t win the election from Romney (Obama won so many votes in such high-cost areas).