That 55% figure has been true of New York for decades. The ubiquity of public transit has historically offset the costs: since people aren’t making car payments, the portion of their income that would go to that gets spread across other spending.
I would be more interested to see figures in more car-oriented areas for a better apples-to-apples.
As someone working in manufacturing and trying to change companies, I really feel this. This time last year, I was the belle of the ball, with recruiters blowing my phone up to try to poach me. Now, everyone I talk to is in a hiring freeze.