Are you getting poorer?

It should also be said that productivity is affected by peoples' quality of life and ability to enjoy their free time. If you work hard for 40 hours a week, but you are earning enough money that every evening you can stop for a pint or two at the pub, go out for a meal two or three times a week, and still have money left over to go out on the weekend. You will be productive at work, and the economy as a whole will do better (as consumer spending will be higher) However, when you're earning a pittance, you can't boost consumer spending as much. And when you do go to work, what's the point in giving it your all? You're not feeling satisfied with your work, as you spend all day toiling away to go home and worry about bills, or spend the weekend doing things that bring little to no joy, as you can't afford to experience new things AND pay the bills. ​ Something my wife likes to often bring up. Back in our grandparents' day, it was rare for a woman to work. The man of the house could go to work, and earn enough money to give their household at the very least a similar situation to what many people have now; they earn enough to pay the bills, but that's about it. However, that was one household income. The woman would be able to stay home, keep the house clean, and look after the child (meaning no cost for childcare). But now we live in a world where two household incomes is almost expected, and some people think women who don't want to work are lazy. And even if we have two household incomes, we're still no better than our grandparents were with household finances. But now, we're having to pay for childcare, we have less time to look after the house, and arguably other aspects of our lives are worse because of it too\*. ​ Do I think they are wholly correct with this assumption? No. But I can't help but think it is definitely part of the problem. Maybe it's just a case of our grandparents looking back on the "good old days" with rose tinted glasses, and then when telling us as children we'd think "Wow, it was so good"... Or maybe it is because we see that they bought/built large family homes in their 20s, we remember growing up in "normal" sized homes as children, and we look at what few homes we are able to afford. ​ \*Things they often mention: A wife could keep the house spotless, meaning the breadwinner would never need to do housework (which they see as a fair trade off) The family could have a better diet, as the woman could start preparing dinner at 2pm, and take 3 or 4 hours to cook it. But now, most people don't have that time on a work day. Weekends could be uninterrupted family time, as the parents didn't need to spend one of their days off doing chores, because the wife would do them during the week.