The economy is getting better, but youre only looking at a few parts of the whole picture. Inflation is huge right now and even that is eclipsed by the greed of the wealthy, which has massively increased the cost of living. The gas price spike and cost of meds like insulin are a good example of the greed.

And that wage increase doesnt mean much. Its just an average. Many peoples wage increases yearly to accout for inflation, but thats lagging behind inflation quite a bit. Min wage workers didnt see much wage increase at all. The wealthy certainly raised the average for themselves tho.