We got to this because service worker wages grew slower than necessary-for-life expenses like food, shelter, medical care, childcare, education, etc.
Meanwhile, many professional wages grew much faster than all of those things.
This is also the reason for why many ski towns in 2022 are unable to find enough staff to keep either the resorts, or the restaurants open. Nobody working those jobs can afford to live in those towns anymore, so you get a bunch of millionaires going off to vacation in their winter dachas, only to discover that there's nobody there to cater to them.
We got to this because service worker wages grew slower than necessary-for-life expenses like food, shelter, medical care, childcare, education, etc.
Meanwhile, many professional wages grew much faster than all of those things.
This is also the reason for why many ski towns in 2022 are unable to find enough staff to keep either the resorts, or the restaurants open. Nobody working those jobs can afford to live in those towns anymore, so you get a bunch of millionaires going off to vacation in their winter dachas, only to discover that there's nobody there to cater to them.