<p>Underemployment is not random. It is systematic, and its pervasiveness is only going to increase in highly educated societies. </p>
<p>Everyone is vulnerable to mental unwellness for a different set of reasons. Some will happily settle for a job where they feel appreciated and make enough to provide for their loved ones, but will stress into self-destruction if a person in their care has problems they can’t fix. Some are great as part of a team but can’t resist the temptation of substances if left alone. Some let their rage turn into their bad medicine. And then there are many people, myself fitfully included, who melt down in the face of overwhelming evidence that others will never value you for what you perceive as your abilities, that you are useful to society only as a janitor (a software janitor, in my case, with a comfy chair and a wooden desk and in that sense, acknowledgedly vastly better off than a real janitor economically and health-wise, but no more autonomy and mental health wise). Getting more education is probably a mistake for such people, since it increases the worth you ascribe to your intellectual abilities and knowledge when it is largely hopeless to create value with them. </p>
<p>So it’s not a perfect causative correlation, but yes, being educationally qualified to have a career that feels (and in most cases is) out of reach is psychologically punishing for many individuals. My version of it, being qualified to study, comment on, and uncover new truths about science with little chance of every being paid to do so, is especially punishing because it loops directly in with existential depression issues. </p>