I would love to give people a raise. I'm not allowed to. People have abused "merit raises" in the past, so now no one gets one. I'm not asking people to work 90% of their life. How about just 20hrs/wk?

I'm a millennial, not that it should really matter. While my personal experience is absolutely anecdotal, we did nothing special. I didn't have family get me a job/car/house. I applied for and secured a part time job, and showed up every day.

There are absolutely struggles out there. But they aren't insurmountable.