Are poor people just working for mere survival or with the hopes of living a better life far beyond what they can ever comprehend?
Poor people are working for survival first.
After they attain some level of survival where they don't worry about money, food, shelter, clothing, they now move to the other level of pursing their goals and living a comfortable life. A poor person can turn their lives around with the right mindset and surrounding themselves with the right people. Because there are poor people who have gone from being poor to wealth, it shows that it is possible and can be done.
Unfortunately some poor people never manage to get out of that survival mode. Their salaries never increase. Their savings never increase. Their money is always just barely enough to get by. That is why there is no time to dream about bigger things but they are thinking more about where to get money to buy for this or that.