The actual study quoted:<p><a href="https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-opportunity-index-ranking-opportunity-in-metropolitan-america" rel="nofollow">https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-opportunity-index-rankin...</a><p>Note that a middle class job in their definition pays around $44k to $80k while "professional" jobs are >$80k and the data is really for a family of four when accounting for middle class and professional.
What percentage of those are transitional jobs? I left school and worked a few years at terrible pay. But I'm older now and earn a good wage. I don't see a problem with people following these steps.
There are 2 ways this happens:<p>1. People are getting paid lower than the cost of goods and assets<p>2. Goods and assets are priced above what people can afford<p>I suspect its number 2. All asset prices are completely out of whack with what people can afford.<p>The only only way out of this is a depression in asset prices.
Labor supply is increasing due to more women and people from third world countries joining the global workforce. In longrun salaries should stabilize globally.