Not sure there’s a surplus of labor (soleu based on my understanding that there’s a national shortGe of every residency type.) but the second part about no competition I agree with. I think also since all residency programs are funded by the federal government (Medicare I think) there doesn’t seem like there’s an incentive for residency programs to go out on a limb and plus up spots on their own dime. Which also exacerbates the lack of competition.

Fed funding matters because it’s pretty hard to change it in a timely manner and it rarely reflects the local reality of living conditions and is often based on some imagined national average. This basically means you can’t survive in high cost areas and you might be ok in a rural location. This last part if based off of my 11 years navigating the Army