What Happened to the Working Class

By: Luther Bravo

Co-Written with Taylor Louise

From the loosening of safety regulations to the unrealistic expectations of customer service and the glorification of billionaires, all of us are destroying the working class and we don’t even realize it. The destruction of the working class is both legislative and cultural. It’s happening all over the country—it is happening right now. I define the working class as anyone who earns $400,000 or less (USD) annually, which is the case for most people in the US today. Every day, we clock into a system created to destroy us, and we can barely talk about it. We are the workers. You, me, the teachers down the street, the cashier at the grocery store, the teller at the bank—we are all workers. Workers are people; we are not machines. We are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. We have the right to be safe at work and to be able to support our families. Despite our dwindling buying power, we are the backbone of our society.

We allow ourselves to be distracted by illusions of prestige and honor when it comes to labor. Tell me, what is prestigious about overworking yourself to service others? According to “Saving Sudden Cardiac Arrest Victims in the Workplace” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), approximately 10,000 of the annual heart attacks in The US happen at work. That is an alarming statistic and a devastating reality to come to terms with. Although I cannot definitively say why so many Americans have medical emergencies at work, I can point out several factors. 

First, people cannot afford to be healthy. Most insurance in this country is provided through employment. Employees agree that a portion of their income goes toward their health insurance. Many are forced to opt out because if they enroll in benefits, they may not be able to afford to get to work. Those who can afford benefits must plan out when and how they use their sick days to access them. Many in today’s workforce have very few sick days, if any. Therefore, if they’re lucky, they won’t be penalized for going to the doctor, but they will miss a day of pay if they do. Even with coverage, they may struggle to afford to go to the doctor or get the prescriptions they need to be healthy. 

Our current system isn’t set up for a worker to be able to do the things needed to stay healthy. It is designed for workers to work themselves to death. 

This fact is apparent in trends like “hustle culture,” where most people would rather have a side hustle or an extra job than have a relaxing hobby such as going on walks or reading. Since the pandemic of 2020, we have seen a rise in the number of people working two jobs and showing their routine, which usually amounts to 4-6 hours of sleep. This unhealthy lifestyle is a result of stagnant wages. The federal minimum wage has not increased since July 2009, remaining a stagnant $7.25. Some states have increased their minimum wage to as high as $15, which is still insufficient for most people, let alone families, to survive in 2024. People who cannot afford to take a day off to find out why their chest feels so tight. Americans only go to the doctor when something is deeply wrong - in many cases, it is too late. 

The idea behind minimum wage has changed over time. President Franklin D Roosevelt and The United States Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, envisioned minimum wage as a way to help protect workers from greedy corporations. The minimum wage was created with the goal that someone should be able to make the minimum amount to have a house, utilities, food, and other basic needs covered. Today, it is clear that we no longer use minimum wage as it was intended. According to a 2023 article by Sophie Nieto-Munoz, a New Jersey resident would have to work 95 hours a week to afford rent at the current minimum wage in New Jersey. This trend follows throughout the country. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is nowhere in the US that the state or federal minimum wage will cover a person’s basic needs. 

We are living through a new peak of work exploitation. Minimum wage protections and employment-provided health care have failed to keep up with the times. Yet, new ways exist to exploit workers, including wage theft. Wage theft is a fraud that occurs when an employer doesn't pay their employees what they are legally owed. This can show up as not getting paid overtime, having meetings off of scheduled work hours, not allowing breaks, and more. According to the UCLA Labor Center, around $26 million is stolen from low-wage workers weekly in Los Angeles alone. Wage theft may impact women, people of color, immigrants, and those with disabilities. This is because employers know that these people rarely have other options than to abide by the unfair labor practices at their given jobs. Even when they fight against wage theft, they are often forced out of their careers. Roughly 17% of workers who win their wage theft cases receive any payment, leaving most powerless. 

The deregulation of worker protections plays a huge role in understanding what’s happening with workers today. First, it’s essential to understand how worker protections don’t just keep workers safe but also protect the communities they work in. This is because workers are a part of the community. If food service workers are forced to work while sick, certain illnesses can spike as they handle food. If truck drivers are forced to work in dangerous conditions such as windstorms or blizzards, accidents, fatalities, and even potential chemical spills can increase. 

We can trace a significant decrease in worker protection to Trump’s corporate-first agenda. While President, he blocked the Workplace Injury and Illness record-keeping rule. Now, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) does not require employers to keep accurate records that could have been used to identify unsafe to dangerous working conditions. He also blocked the Fair Pay and Safe Workplace rule. By stopping it, President Trump allowed taxpayer money to go to contractors despite how the actions of those contractors violated basic labor and employment laws. He also made it harder for unemployed workers to receive unemployment insurance. As we enter his second presidential term, we worry about the fate of overtime. As he promised during his campaign to eliminate overtime tax, we will wait to see what that will look like. Will that look like reclassifying workers so they are not eligible for overtime? Will that look like not having overtime at all? We are still too far out to say, but we can assume it will negatively impact the worker. 

American workers are being exploited. They are being overworked and underpaid. They work in unsafe conditions with little to no support for improving them. We cannot have realistic solutions for ending unfair labor practices if we cannot acknowledge them. People should be able to work one job and support themselves. People should be able to go to the doctor and take time to recover from illness without fear they will not be able to pay their bills. We are not just workers but people, and we should be treated as such. 

Work Cited

“Complete List of Nurse Strikes (2020-2025).” NurseTogether, 5 May 2025, www.nursetogether.com/nurse-strikes/. 

Hoyle, Emily. “Walmart Rakes in Billions While Food Profiteering Remains High.” Accountable US, 20 Feb. 2024, accountable.us/walmart-rakes-in-billions-while-food-profiteering-remains-high/. 

Liles, Jordan. “‘nobody Wants to Work Anymore’ Meme Cites Real Newspaper Articles.” Snopes, Snopes.com, 4 Mar. 2025, www.snopes.com/fact-check/nobody-wants-to-work-anymore/. 

Sandroff, Ronni. “The History of Labor Day.” Investopedia, Investopedia, www.investopedia.com/news/history-labor-day/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. 

“What Is Wage Theft?” UCLA Labor Center, 12 Feb. 2021, labor.ucla.edu/wage-theft/.