Trying harder is not a strategy, which leads me to believe that guy knows nothing about the topic.

that article seems to assume that just because you hired someone, they'll stay with you for decades?

They probably will if you pay them equitably - my grandfather stayed with US Steel pretty much his whole career, but back then they payed him enough to send 4 kids to college on one salary.

Total college cost per year for four kids in your grandfather's time: $10k.

Total college cost per year for four kids today: $400k.

Indeed, wages have not kept up with cost of living

While that's partly true (modulo certain exceptions such as the cost of living varying quite a bit from place to place), the comment you were replying to was making a point about the cost of college. Which has grown so much faster than general inflation that it's in its very own category.

I guess I don't see how we can meaningfully measure cost of living without taking into account cost of education.

If a salary these days only puts the kids through high school, then the standard of living that salary buys has fallen drastically in practice.

My BS comp sci degree was a waste of time, to be real. Fairly certain my first job out of college would have been appropriate for myself as a high school senior. One of my parents and two of my grandparents were programmers without needing anything more than a high school diploma. Despite the push for trades, I couldn't even get an interview without a degree even despite my experience. Add in the increase in the cost of living, stagnant wages, plus inflation and it doesn't make a pretty picture.