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I think the implication is meant to be getting the living standard by your own effort instead of through dependency on a supporting figure like a parent.
Does it make people who can't reach that standard for any reason not of their own failing feel shitty? Sometimes yeah, but it's not like it's to say that you're earning the right to keep living itself.
I'm glad you said it, I read this and it bothered me. What about "steal a living" or "hunt a living" or "create a living". I think the missing word is "for" you do these things "for a living", that is to say, to get the resources you need to remain alive.
That said, I do get the message. The idea of living in a world so abundant but unfair that you live or die by what you can produce for someone else is pretty wrong
I say make a living, because it implies it being your project that you're building up as you want and need to.