CSM- My response was based more from a Stress Factor and the impact on families, an Educated job is going to give a person the money, admiration and lessens the burdens of life than a less educated person, that's a given.
Many of the World War11 era men had low paying factory, construction, plant style jobs and with that came a wife that did not work and larger families to support, so those men had a bigger burden to hold and in essence did not make the best husbands or fathers because they were just made to feel as PROVIDERS to the home no more and no less...
And the intellectuals that are sitting at desks created automation, assembly fixtures, smelting equipment, welding equipment, etc. These devices made the physical labor more productive, therefore increasing its value. Compare the difference between how much steel a blacksmith could produce vs. the amount of steel that can be produced by todays smelting operations.
Yes, they carried a load. I would contend that the load is heavier today. The tax rate is one of the major reasons that 2 incomes are the norm. Now families spend their "free" time doing the domestic work that used to be done by the homemaker. Each member of the family is doing at least the work of 2.
Technology, created by desk sitters (intellectuals), has allowed this to occur. The government punishes us for the advancements.