From NPR: Obama's State Of The Union And Your Economic Reality
OBAMA: Average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by, let alone to get ahead. And too many still aren't working at all.
What's the meaning of "ever" here? I've looked the word up in the dictionary, but couldn't find a proper definition. Is it only used to emphasize the context?