There is little surprise that there are far more people pursuing academic careers than there are openings. I imagine there is a sort of similar problems in law schools. They're likely pumping out increasing numbers of graduates, but the respective industries may not be growing at a rate to hire them all, or there isn't a demand for their services (such as the egyptologists mentioned in the comments here).
I should think this isn't a new issue, except that we're dealing with more entitlement in people, and perhaps more obscure or absurd academic pursuits.
In time, we might see "the starving doctor" become as cliche as the "starving artist."