Working a regular job is a blessing, but like you said, the ones that benefit the most are the owners. By working on ourselves and developing valuable skills, we can become more valuable to those around us and we'll be able to offer services to them directly.
Two salary increases in 7 years is probably not even enough to keep up with inflation.
That was the problem. It wasn't enough to even keep inflation at bay but these work owners didn't care. We actually had skills, but it was difficult to raise money to be established as an entrepreneur. It's a blessing to have a regular job with good pay prospects