Outside of Trading Places (with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy), you don't often get the person being offered the high paying position without experience.
Access, I believe, is one part of the issue. I'm thinking more of the "my willpower budget is spent on the grocery vs utility bill" leading to other poor choices that make it more difficult to get a promotion that allows for a more care free life (not worrying about bills).
I believe that there are many parts of social and economic feedback loops that make it harder (and continue to make it harder) for people in environments that are willpower draining to move to jobs where the ability to make good decisions is the key value.
Don't you think this has a lot more to do with access? I can't imagine there are too many people saying: "I will turn down this high-paying management job because I spent my decision budget at the grocery store"