I am not sure where or when this happy land where you got out of high school, (where you of course fit in perfectly) walked into a great job with total security and bought a new car and home with your first paycheck was but it was not in the late 80s when I leaped out of the nest and apparently it was not in the 70s(?) when you did it either. I know it was not in the early 60s when my parents did it.
And lets not even talk about the grandparents. At least at 18 I did not have 7 younger siblings depending on me because our parents died in the Flu epidemic of 1919.
Life is hard. It has always been hard and every generation thinks they have it the worse because they didn't live through what the ones before did. No, we arrived after. When things were tight but a little better and by the time we had solid memories things were going ok.
Media also comes in for a bit of blame as they tend to show people with low end jobs that they rarely show up for able to make it with no problem.
Media thrives on sob stories. Champions of the under dog or losers. Take your pick.