In my experience as a gradual student, the academic job situation for PhDs was widely known, at least in my field -- physics. That was in the early 90s.<p>I know that a lot of people entered grad school with the stated goal of pursuing an academic career, but I wonder if that is more of a rationalization than a definite objective. My guess is that people are motivated simply by an interest in the subject matter, and in getting more education.<p>In my own case, my dad, and my grandfather, both had PhDs, and almost all of my close relatives have advanced degrees of some sort. There was a strong family &quot;culture&quot; that valued education for its own sake, along with a sense of education being the thing that &quot;they can&#x27;t take away from you,&quot; developed through the experiences of the Great Depression and the world wars. Those are the kinds of motivations that aren&#x27;t really influenced by job market statistics.