The article is from 2019 and things were in pretty good shape then, though I do think the author's broader point about the concerns of journalists not really aligning with the concerns of everyone else does still hold true.
They were. It would be trivial to point to a time in the past when things were better than 2019, naturally, but the economy was growing, unemployment was shrinking, labor force participation was increasing, inflation was low. Some portions of the economy were in better shape than others, as the article points out, but the overall picture was good and improving.
