However, manufacturing jobs are also jobs that “monkeys can do”, but the middle class, post WWII, was built on those jobs. They enabled one bread winner to work, the other adult to raise the kids, the family to have a house, a car, food, and clothing....with a little bit of recreation.
35,000 a year won’t do all that.
We aren’t going to see a return to a one income family model. Too much divorce and too many unmarried with kids. And many of those lower skill repetitive jobs can be filled by a robot that never goes on strike.
And in the 60s, when I was growing up, the average home was around 1200 sq ft and my Dad, a military officer, owned one car.