Asad Haider makes a good point about this in his book Mistaken Identity, namely (IIRC) that the “middle class” has always been an illusion to propel labor and to divide the populace along lines of race and class (which is one of capitalism’s goals). Separately, if we look back at Henry Ford’s famous “five dollars a day” incentive, it wasn’t without a catch— his Sociological Department inspected every aspect of workers’ lives, including their families, to ensure they were appropriately American (white picket fence type stuff, down to nutrition and children’s educational performance). It’s been the white male mythos forever, and needs to be flushed down the toilet.