Technically, those Amazon jobs are median wage jobs in the US. And in large parts of the US you can easily live a decent no-frills life on the $36-37k Amazon is paying. Restaurant jobs vary widely. In my city, a good server gets paid much more than an Amazon warehouse worker. The erratic restaurant shutdowns or partial shutdowns over the last 18 months made it impossible for restaurant workers to get reliable hours, which forced restaurants to change the way they do staffing and that dynamic has created an equilibrium that is difficult to get out of.