What does the corona crisis teach us about the value of work?

For too long we have considered work in terms of profit and not in terms of society. We must look again at what we value and why.

By Lisa Herzog

People step out into the street for a period of applause in Blackpool, north-west England on March 26, as a sign of public admiration for the National Health Service (NHS). - Hospital bosses and doctors on Thursday warned of being swamped with a "tsunami" of COVID-19 patients in London, as Britain braced for a peak in cases and the government faced calls to urgently provide specialist kit and tests for frontline health workers. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Amid the chaos, uncertainty and fear, a silent revolution is happening during the corona crisis: a revolution in the way we assess work. The drumming and clapping for health care workers, the public praise for those who stack supermarket shelves – all of this suddenly appears natural to us. And our applause for those working in the medical or food industry expresses the value we now see in their contribution to society.

Yet for far too long we have overlooked the contribution workers make, and instead measured the value of work in terms of the marketplace. Since Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan we have left markets free to provide employment, dictate its conditions and assess the value of work in monetary terms. What counts is the generation of capital, and an employee’s salary is determined by the power of supply and demand. Unfortunately, the disconnect between a contributory account of work and market logic becomes painfully clear in a moment of crisis.