If everyone goes into math and science, won’t those jobs become scarcer as well?
And what about people who, you know, actually want to study the humanities?
There are a number of ways to limit the underemployment of PhDs without expecting everyone to become programmers and engineers. Whether or not humanities PhD programs and institutions as a whole are willing to implement them is another issue.
In the meantime, even in the current climate, this newly-minted English PhD finished her program with no debt and some savings, and has a reasonably paying job through a university-affiliated research center for at least the next year. Longer term, the “worst case scenario” would involve converting my PhD into a secondary teaching certificate – not terribly difficult to do in my state – and making the transition to high school teaching. Neither that, nor my current position, is my “dream job”, but I’m hardly dooming myself to a life of virtuous poverty.