I think there are a number of industries where this is a concern. I'm a PhD student, and there seems to be an ongoing discourse about the number of people training as academics versus the number of academic jobs available internationally, especially in the humanities. Is this just a case of there being trends in study/vocational training? Or, as a previous commenter suggested, are some occupations just less "sexy"? My partner is currently trying to hire a senior hair stylist, and is finding there is a ridiculous shortage. I would have thought that might have been one of the more "sexy", or at least glamorous-looking, occupations for a number of school-leavers.

Russell - the date on that article is March '09. That happened a long time ago under a fairly different set of circumstances.

Damnit - I was getting further and further through the comments, hoping that I would finally have a chance outside of academia and pub quizzes to show off my relatively useless skill set of knowing the difference between Flatmates and kiwiflatmates.com - and Joanna beat me to it!

There is quite a lot of reality tv hate going on here. Whilst I completely get that not everyone is going to like it, and that's just fine with me, the total dismissing of it as a genre bothers me just a little. I personally feel that there is a lot to be gleaned from reality tv, as significant academic study has highlighted. But I freely admit, I'm showing off my biases here.

I have to admit, I find unscripted television a much more appropriate handle, as anything which is mediated, whether it be Big Brother, 3 News or a film fest documentary, sacrifices a level of reality.