Although those words are not quite right, if we examine further, there is nothing wrong with what the OP said that in certain companies many employees are treated like slaves without any progress in their lives to be able to advance further.
It is true as you said that employees are the main pillars for the progress of a company, but we must also realize that most employees do not have career development even though they have dedicated many contributions to a company.
I agree with OP to a greater extent that salaries are meant to be baits to keep workers working till the end of the month then another one is being paid. When I compared the Standard of living today which has skyrocketed. You can't fathom the fact that people are really under a kind of slavery or neocolonialism working for some sort of capitalists out there.
This matter of discussion is mostly related to those working in private companies. In most countries around the world, it hasn't paid them right but plenty of these private company workers do not seem to have any choice of the situation rather than manage what comes to their table.