That's what people are complaining about. The hurdles are higher and more frequent than before. It's still there, but having your first home at 35 is vastly different from having it at 25. My friend group is filled with people privileged enough to work lucrative white collar jobs, and it's still a massive challenge despite earning more than 90% of all households.
Now imagine what happens when blue collars get saturated again. They can't beat white collar work during or after 25-35 without going off the beaten path, while white collar is struggling.
Cherry on top: households are getting less while doing more work per household.
America won't be regaining its 1940's unilateral industrial superpower status again.
Do we just say that the Silent and Boomer generations were a fluke?
Do politicians that promise to redistribute wealth get elected?
Does automation really save us? Or lead to greater inequality?
Yes we do, because yes, they were a fluke. The question is, can we re-create conditions approximately that good (without bombing the rest of the planet back to the stone age)? I must admit that I don't see a way to do so.
The downward pressure on their compensation will see the cost to build new homes come down and thus the market will trend towards affordable again? After all, like all things, the cost of a used home is a function of the cost of a new home.
I think it’s because these jobs are “hard” in that they require more than a day of training and you can’t use your phone at work. There’s a weird habit with people I know that since they can get $15/hour working at a McJob that doesn’t challenge them physically or mentally that it’s “good enough.”
Long term planning is required to learn to weld and make $45/hour.
Why shouldn't they? Somehow, with all of our progress, life gets more difficult.
Didn't it used to be possible for cashiers to support themselves?
Many of their complaints do seem grounded in truth, however. America's low hanging fruit blue collar jobs have moved to developing nations. The automotive industry doesn't have as many jobs paying what it used to.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of talk for the trade skill pipeline, which has me curious: why not?
Both plumbing and electrical work pay decently and offer a high degree of autonomy, yet these aren't hyped. Nursing can be learned at night school. Not everything requires a college degree or "book smarts".
There has to be something more at play, because the middle class is hollowing out. Maybe not enough of these jobs to go around? Or maybe that middle class can never be as big as it once was during the post war boom years that saw American manufacturing leading the world. Maybe every country gets fifty years tops before that crown moves on.
They're also not wrong in complaining about asset appreciation. Unaffordable housing and rent. These are real pressures. "Cheap housing" doesn't seem like a bone we can throw.
What do we do for these folks that can't get white collar work?