A bit of history may be helpful to help you understand the situation you may encounter (anybody who has a better history, please feel free to contradict me). Prior to WWII, almost all Americans terminated their education with a high school degree. Getting a college degree was rare compared to today. One of the things that happened after WWII was the GI Bill. This created a demand for a college education. This was the period during which my father entered academia and got tenure. Getting tenure was a piece of cake. The WWII generation also created the Boomers, large numbers of whom wanted a college degree. The demand for degrees created a demand for more professors, which created larger departments, which created a demand for larger facilities, etc. But the Boomers weren't quite as fertile as the greatest generation, which in turn lessened the demand for a college degree. But we were stuck with a higher education system designed to handle larger numbers such as the Boomers. The lessened demand created intense competition for the tenured positions. This is the environment you are trying to enter.
My personal opinion is that you shouldn't try to enter academia to get out of the non-academic world but because academia is your calling.