What explains not changing jobs because you find it distressing and claiming that you're being paid below what you're worth? It seems like if that were true, then you'd be motivated to find a job that pays market rate. And if you couldn't, then you could at least find another job that pays less than market rate, like your current job, but isn't so distressing.

This definitely comes from someone who never had trouble looking for a job and cannot possibly understand how hard real life is for other people.

Maybe these people are trying to keep their skills and degrees honed somehow in a bad market, rather than going straight for a less-distressing-but-also-lower-paying job that does nothing to their skillset.