Geoffrey MillerVerified account

I got a permanent academic position one year before I got my PhD. You're making a cultural assumption.

What field do you work in, and when did you get your job?

That diagram is missing an essential component: the numbers balance doesn't add up. There's a much larger influx of PhDs than outflow to faculty positions and many end up leaving to other careers. In some way, it is a supply issue, as @EricRWeinstein has pointed out.

And you‘re telling me this is something that “intelligent people” choose to do because they think it’s a good idea?

They choose to do it because everybody in the system who SHOULD BE give them honest advice, as a mentor, is instead parroting the company line. Ph. D.’s don’t realize what is happening until they’ve past the point of no return.