My pet theory is that the rising cost of housing is responsible for the vast majority of economic disruption over the last 20 years (for everyone, even home owners.)

Service/factory/teaching/childcare/eldercare jobs don't pay enough to buy a house and renting has become highly predatory, so anyone who can get out of those professions and into finance/tech/marketing (often useless but high paying jobs) will do it. The people who stay in those professions get burnt out and deeply frustrated.

It feels like most of the jobs that provide inherent, tangible benefits to society don't pay enough to provide a stable life.