The question was about "the quality of general life for the average person in the West". I looked through most of the links and I don't think they address the topic.
Income inequality for example measures relative equality, not absolute "how well off" someone is. If for the sake of argument an alien benefactor made everyone in on the planet 100x richer in the sense of material wealth, there'd still be the same levels of wealth inequality as today. The articles about job quality and job polarization also do not address how well off people are in an absolute sense.