I think it’s also worth noting that wages have been stagnant for 50 years, so people getting entry-level jobs are really being paid very low wages. And can they move up? Well, businesses rather famously decided a while ago that “middle management” was just a waste. What did those people add to the bottom-line?? Some guy was getting paid to manage 5 or 10 people? No one needs that.
So middle management was largely hollowed out. Now some guy manages 100 people. Gets a nice title like “Division Manager” or something. Not too hard with computers. No time for mentoring of course. And you can’t really tell what the team is doing. But mind your spreadsheets and you can “manage” a team of 100.
But, if you are entry-level and want to move up, where do you go? Well, the next step up is Division Manager. And that guy needs to leave before his slot opens. That can take years. And you compete with everyone on your team to get his spot. So the odds are 99-to-1 against you if you want that promotion.And, heck, the company will likely hire from outside anyway. So your entry-level job is a dead-end. You’re not going anywhere. Might as well work at Starbucks. Yeah, that’s sort of a trash job but you can hop from one place to another and feel in control of your life. Might seem better than slowly dying in a cubicle farm for about the same amount of money.