By any standard you wish to use, non-college educated American workers are worse off than they were thirty years ago. Half the labor force has gone down. A McJob at Walmart just plain doesn't equal the unionized factory job with health insurance, vacation, and pension of thirty years ago.
I hate to break this to you, but the guy with the "McJob at Wal-Mart" today enjoys a standard of living that would be the envy of that unionized factory worker 30 years ago.