Seriously, i'm 47 and i only knew a SINGLE person in my life who escaped poverty through job. A lady who became a CFO and executive vice-president of a EU system-wide importance bank. And i don't hang out with poor people in general.
Maybe in US it's different, but here in Europe, "jobs" have always been merely a more or less guaranteed safety net to escape total destitution and becoming homeless. If you wanted to make it in life on even the most basic level (buy an apartment, get married etc.), you ALWAYS had to do something better than a job, or own assets.
Vast majority of jobs are not about economy, they are about social policy and politics (because people vote, so society has to at least somewhat placate them to avoid awfully nasty election outcomes).