I think the nuance that is lost is that the "better" is not uniform. The previous world worked better for some people, the current one works better for others. It is probably a net gain on the whole, but the dispersion of results might be stronger than the underlying trend.
Averages are what make comparisons hard - there is a lot of variation within the averages. Truckers in the U.S., for example, were way better off in 1970 than they are today (in relative terms). But an average factory worker in China was way worse off.
Averages are what make comparisons hard - there is a lot of variation within the averages. Truckers in the U.S., for example, were way better off in 1970 than they are today (in relative terms). But an average factory worker in China was way worse off.