a chicken-and-egg problem
a chicken and egg situation/problem
A situation in which it is unknown what happened, or what needs to happen, first. You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience. It's a chicken and egg situation.
a chicken-and-egg problem
an unresolved question as to which of two things caused the other.This expression comes from the traditional riddle: ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’
See also: problem