The opportunity trap is the social congestion in the competition for jobs when the number of applicants outstrips the demand for a particular group of workers – in particular, graduate school degree-holding applicants. It is distinct from an opportunity gap, which is a lack of equal opportunity. An example of fields where the number of applicants far outstrips the available opportunities includes humanities professors. Large numbers of graduate students complete PhD programs in English literature, history and music history, but there are only a handful of openings for professor positions. The PhD graduates who cannot find professorships may struggle with underemployment, for instance, by working at a job which does not require their education.
Many commentators, including human capital theorists and proponents of positional consensus theory, assert that there is a tightening relationship between education, jobs and rewards, and that in general, the more qualifications one has, the more employable one becomes. These ideas have informed policies to widen access to educational opportunities with the goal of promoting equality and maximising efficiency according to meritocratic
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Source: Wikipedia
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