Government suppression of the open competition of the marketplace free from government interference is a big culprit.
Things like tariffs and unconstitutional federal protection of unions tend towards the furtherance of inferior products and a lower standard of living.
Unconstitutional big government is NOT your friend.
Trust me we don’t have pick of the crop, especially for wage jobs. I guess most of them get so many handouts they don’t need jobs, and unfortunately the marketplace is pricing out a lot of employees for small businesses. Bigger companies are throwing so much hourly money at the good people available and such that it’s hard for a small business to pay someone $12 or more dollars just to scoop fries! Prevailing temp low wage for decent folks is about $15-17 in my area. Majority of applicants I can attract for what used to be minimum wage jobs are real rejects that in no way would you want them representing your business. So I do without and stretch me and my good employees thin til someone good shows up. So you are correct employee quality is way down!