>>44878351During the mid 20th century, America had a pretty outstanding economic boom. One working member of the household could effectively support the entire household. Therefore, it was expected that if you were pushed out of the nest after graduating from high school, or if you left shortly after on your own, that you would be fine as long as you could find work. And because the parents were able to able to do the the same for themselves, and because of social security, being able to safely retire was a real possibility.
But the minimum wage hasn't been a living wage in decades, so this isn't really the case anymore. However, the culture has been slow to catch up with the reality of the situation.
