“Low skill” doesn’t mean low risk, especially during a pandemic.
How we treat the “low skill” workers once this pandemic is over will show us who we truly are.
Photo by Nam Y. Huh, Associated Press
Recently, I’ve been feeling like all my fancy “book learning” means bupkis right now. As a lawyer, I have what is commonly referred to as an “advanced” degree. But at the moment, my ability to draft documents and engage in legal/policy research feels woefully inadequate in addressing the immediate needs of feeding and healing my fellow humans.
Like millions of Americans, I’ve been inspired by the individuals at the forefront of this pandemic who are risking their lives every single day to keep the rest of us alive and safe. Our healthcare workers are doing their absolute best at great personal risk and they have our unyielding gratitude.
Many of these jobs, however, do not get the honor and respect they deserve when we aren’t in the middle of a public health crisis.
Those who work in food preparation and delivery, sanitation, retail, care taking, etc. are used to being ignored or feeling invisible. That’s the message we send to people whose jobs we categorize as “ low skill.” Whose livelihoods we are not willing to protect and value with public policies that provide them with what should be basic protections such as a minimum living wage and paid family/sick leave.
Yet these “low skill” individuals are our lifelines right now. Literally. They are stocking and restocking our grocery store shelves. They are entering contaminated hospital rooms to clean and sanitize for the next patient. They are delivering our food and medicine so that we can stay home and keep our families safe. And they are too often doing so without the necessary personal protective equipment required to keep them and their families safe.
When all of this is over and we begin talking about reopening and rebuilding the post-pandemic economy, there will be policy proposals aimed at shoring up financial and institutional support for the individuals without whom this crisis would have lasted far longer and been much, much worse.
Our collective support of these proposals (or lack thereof) will tell these individuals what we really think of them.
Whether we think they truly are essential…or merely expendable.