Krusty,
I always tend to agree with your posts however the rise in overall earnings as an average has been massive in some sectors while somewhat negligible in others. Ask anyone serving you and your wife when you go out for dinner one night how much their pay has risen over the past 3 years.
Mining and the like who don't have the ability to let their production stop for one hour let alone a day have caused wages to skyrocket. Over here university placing are at a 20 year low, nurses are impossible to get enrolled and engineering places are going empty. All because kids can go straight from school into 6 figure jobs with no formal training.
The old adage of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer has never been more apparent in society than right now. The "relative" you speak of is not as relative as it once was.
No formal (read no "cost") training and drive a truck for 100k or spend 60-100k and get a job paying 60 if you get very lucky. On top of that, the QF pay scale isn't beyond the realms of the everyday persons vision anymore. The job itself doesn't have any romance attached to it anymore that's for sure....