In my mind that's a symptom of rising inequality. On the one hand we are allowing housing, education, health care prices and the incomes of the top x % to rise

In my mind that's a symptom of rising inequality. On the one hand we are allowing housing, education, health care prices and the incomes of the top x % to rise rapidly but we also expect prices and incomes in other sectors to stay same or only rise a little. That's simply not sustainable. If you are in the lower income ranks it makes sense to check out of this system and not take these jobs. What's a a job good for if you can't afford to live with the income? In the long run I think society should accept that lower income people also should benefit from a growing economy and not just the top ranks.