Great example. Huge pay by every metric, and plenty by your own assertion, and they still struggled to fill all the jobs at that price, at least before the crash. I think this really emphasizes how image plays the most important role.
I think that has more to do with the huge lifestyle sacrifices necessary to work on an oil rig.
The folks I know who worked the rigs during the "boom years" came only to earn as much as they could before burn-out finally did them in. Some of them miss the pay, but none of them seem to miss the job.