Strange, isn't it?

When the term "essential worker" was coined, it made many of the people it applied to feel flattered. They were considered essential! However this is a misunderstanding of what a capitalist is saying. The term "essential" doesn't actually refer to the worker. They consider the work essential. It is very important that those jobs are carried out. The worker that does it though is irrelevant, and considered fungible.

You know how corporations have a department called "Human Resources?" That's exactly the mindset. Your job is essential, but you are expendable.

A recent Unlearning Economics Live video had Cahal mentioning that it was pretty easy to identify essential workers, and if that's the case we should earmark housing for those workers in the relevant areas. If it's been so easy to classify them, there should probably be other similar accomodations (eg tax breaks) from a payment perspective.

There is no such thing as unskilled labour.

Easy enough. Set minimum wage for essential workers. (And raise minimum wage.) Declare a holiday for everyone for a month.

Everyone that works is essential.

Billionaires are going straight to the boiler room of hell for the suffering they caused.

No, no, no, you misunderstood. Essential doesn't mean highly paid. They are the suckers who are left doing the dirty work that keeps high society moving but of course they'll get the lowest possible wage if they can be replaced easily.

Any time any worker drives past a "heroes work here" banner (which I still see sometimes), they must think "if you believe I'm a hero, pay me better"

We really need to fuck with money. All of these labels are a tool to make as much profit as possible.

Is roo clutching her pearls?

Are we really going to have this discussion again?

Skill is a measure of the amount of worker's expertise, specialization, wages, and supervisory capacity. Skilled workers are generally more trained, higher paid, and have more responsibilities than unskilled workers.

Not the same thing. An essential worker was somebody doing a job needed for society to continue. That includes both skilled (years of training) jobs and unskilled (a week or two at most before you can do it) jobs.