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.
Between 2010 to 2015 my top 20 ranked university had 1 permanent job per 50 graduated PhDs in physics and maybe 1 in 30 for mathematics.
Between 2010 to 2015 my top 20 ranked university had 1 permanent job per 50 graduated PhDs in physics and maybe 1 in 30 for mathematics.