> Probably 80% of the recent PhD grads I know are looking to leave academia, despite the fact that they went into it to pursue a career in academia.
I think this was always the case. The disillusionment isn't new and not all who are disillusioned will act on it. The rest just put their PhD where the money is, as always.
The trend is somewhat new if we look long term. The gap between PhD’s and number of openings in academia has gotten a lot worse.