The extraction of US wealth, systemically and consciously have made it impossible for most families to maintain the standard of living of their parents let alone grandparents on a single income.
Since 1970 the median household income for the most part has remained flat when adjusted for inflation, but now most housholds are 2 income families whereas in 1970 this was the vast exception not the rule.
So in other words on average it’s taking 2 people working to maintain the same income that one did 50 years ago.
That’s the entirely predictable result of flooding the workforce with women in the first place. If you double the labor pool, the value of each man’s labor is reduced by half. Those women who “must work” to insure the family income are enslaving themselves.