‘We shouldn’t be calling some jobs essential.”

That line got me into a lot of trouble the other day when chatting with friends about how the term “essential worker” degrades the stature of all the “nonessentials,” when, in fact, we all play an essential role in the millions of supply chains across the globe.  Withholding any of our roles has the potential to throw sand in the gears of civilization. We need a more accurate, and respectful, term.

Of course I am extraordinarily grateful for the life-and-death duties that our healthcare workers on the front lines of this pandemic are performing, as well as the supermarket, bank, emergency services, law enforcement, transit, and so many other workers who perform their important jobs with a much increased risk of infection.  I’m grateful, too, for those workers whose tasks just can’t be delayed, like the plumber who clears a blocked toilet.  These are the people whom we usually think of as the “essential workforce” these days, but in fact what’s included in the actual definition is so much larger.

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