There is some of that: multi-decade hollowing out of the working class. Undermine their ability to negotiate wages by off-shoring their labor (manufacturing --white goods, for example) or importing cheap labor (services --meat processors, for example).

On the other hand, we had the 'Hoover' years and shanty towns and people out of jobs and people begging for scraps during the dustbowl and depression years but we still had the glue of civil society to hold us together. But now, the working man and working woman can't earn an honest day's wages and we've moved to a more laissez faire attitude to what happens on the street (It's okay to shit on the sidewalk, inject, threaten pedestrians, etc.) In the extreme, it's considered 'establishment' to want civility --but even mayor Breed is fed up with the BS from the BoS and their promoters.