[umanwizard]

People want the popular image of the 1950s, where a hard working dad could support a family living in a house with a picket fence in the suburbs. It doesn’t matter what the actual job is; it’s just associated with manufacturing in people’s minds.

[linguae]

Additionally, such jobs did not require a bachelor’s degree. Today it seems that affording a middle-class lifestyle (i.e., being able to afford to purchase or rent a home in a safe neighborhood with good public schools) often takes two incomes from jobs that require bachelors’ degrees or more, which is expensive in America. There are plenty of Americans who can’t afford that lifestyle, including those with college degrees.