The Way It Is  

You can get an HAA job now with 1,200 hours, 1.5 years of flying experience, and background of doing nothing but tours and CFI. In other words, your only experience can be fair weather flying in circles with no tough decisions ever being made, and companies like AMC will happily hire you for $68k.

That's pretty much entry level.

Should it be that way? No. HAA should be hiring pilots with a lot of experience under their belt. But those pilots with substantial skill/knowledge aren't going to work for $70k a year. Or even $80 or $90k a year. Because there are companies in O&G, corporate, and utility who value experience and are paying co-pilots what an HAA PIC makes, and captains are making $130-180 a year.

The HAA business model revolves around cheap labor, and finding unqualified pilots to fly for peanuts, who will cover a ton of work-over to make up the pay gap. Which, unfortunately, has turned it into an entry level job.