Some special things, not likely to be repeated: artificial shortage of labor due to limited participation in the labor pool by women and blacks led to high paychecks for white workers across a broad spectrum of jobs. This artificial shortage was augmented by a real shortage, as the Depression saw record low birth rates, which meant fewer adults to participate in the labor pool.
There were, however, a number of low-paying positions (mostly self-employed under the table kind of things) that could bring in a few dollars for those who were excluded from the mainstream labor pool, and because prices were also low, a few bucks from shining shoes or washing clothes could actually pay for rent (in a slum) and groceries. I doubt anyone could support himself shining shoes today.
The Baby Boom created a large market for children's toys and goods, which generated a lot of revenue for the makers of same. But big-ticket items such as cars and major appliances were in a bit of trouble, because there were such a small number of actual households buying their products. This is when planned obsolescence became a thing, as well as marketing the idea that one should replace such big-ticket items, especially cars, every couple of years not because they weren't working anymore, but just because you felt like it. That allowed the manufacturers to turn a substantial penny on what was really artificial demand.
Much of the US industrial plant had been modernized during the war, while worldwide, industrial plant was largely destroyed by the war. This had two paradoxical results: short-term, the US became manufacturer for the world, as we had the plant to do it. Long-term, it meant US industrial plant would fall behind the rest of the world in quality, as every other country (well, not the UK) had to pretty much rebuild theirs from scratch.
There's a few "special" things for you.
-- Mal
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