It seems very difficult to find any reliable information
about these jobs.

That comment might sum up the situation fairly accurately.

As an armchair lurker I certainly couldn't throw too much into the
discussion but from the comments I've read in this group over
the years I would hazard a guess that.....

1..... 20-30 is a good dose of reality.

2..... 30-50 is wishfull thinking or the result of long term employment.

3..... 100,000.......... I want some of those drugs.

It appears that to get qualified and employed in the fixed wing end of
flying is a lot cheaper and easier, mostly due to the shear numbers of
fixed wing pilots required. And the pay scale would be better as you
moved up the food chain due to the salaries paid by the airlines and
large charter operations.

But it is a different story in helicopters.

Stories of very high costs to get licensed, build time, and gain
experience, abound in the industry, with probably many more people
interested in become pilots than there are jobs.

There have been stories posted here about pilots working for free, or
actually paying employers to gain hours and experience after they have
become licensed and employed.

If you are already licensed and can't find work I might suggest you
consider going back to school and learning how to fix them as a
mechanic or perhaps in this day and age as an avionics tech.

Years ago a buddy of mind paid the money, got his license and travelled
from one end of the country to the other looking for work as a pilot.

No joy there..... But he was also a qualified avionics technician and
had received numerous job offers for that.

So he choose the largest company that had offered a job as an aviionics
tech with the understanding that if a helicopter had to moved short
distances around the airport, or field that he was the one that did it.

I remember one day he logged sixty seconds of flying time moving a
machine about one hundred and fifty feet.

It all added up and within two years he was flying a 206.

Considering the weather and forest fires this season have you
considered trying to find a job as part of the ground crew on a
fireline.

That would keep you close to the business and put some potatoes
on the kitchen table.