Nope. The pay at regionals was steady or increasing starting in the late1970s. Plenty of pilots were to be had for the last 30 years, with pay increasing that entire time, minus a few concessionary contracts in the 2000s. People had to PAY to go to training at places like ASA until the late 1990s, yet they had far more applicants than positions until very recently.
We are seeing the result of a major change in the funding ability of the average American. I got a loan from Key Bank for my training. It is now impossible for someone to get a loan like that and go to FlightSafety or ATP. Now you must go to ERAU or another university to get funding, and that pipeline isn't big enough to cover the number of jobs necessary. Add to that the change in ATP requirements, and it is a major problem.
It is much bigger than a pay issue.