In many cases you are probably correct, but in too many cases it is simply that the medium of exchange we're being compensated in isn't consistent with the value contributed 🤷🏻‍♂️

In my line of work, the salary 20 years ago used to be approximately $20000 more than what would be considered to provide a very comfortable quality of life, today it is about $30000 less. The work is the same, but thanks to inflation and salary adjustments not keeping up, the value provided to financial reimbursement ratio is now in a much worse place.