Allocating for the Essentials

One of the most fascinating things to have emerged from the Coronavirus crisis is the distinction between "essential" and "non-essential" work. Distinguishing between the two has been a fascinating exercise that America as a society has not taken on since WWII, and it shows.

Americans have become somewhat used to coexisting with a dangerous virus, but the shutdowns that began with California and New York prompted some valuable insights: some elements of society can't be shut down. Everyone has to eat. Most Americans get their food from supermarkets. Those are clearly essential. Everyone is going to drink water and poop, so water utilities are essential.

After that it gets a little more complicated to parse out what really is essential and what isn't. Supermarkets get their food from farms (yes there are intermediate steps but no I don't care to list them out). Given the agricultural sector's reliance on undocumented migrant labor, this creates the jarring reality of labeling the same immigrants that are often scapegoated for America's ills as essential. Highly uncomfortable, if you ask me. Electric and gas utilities are essential as well - for now.

One can go on and on, but the point is that labels now exist. Some of us are essential and some of us are not.

I remember when I was a resident advisor in college, a boss had us complete an exercise where we were asked to list our top ten priorities in life and also the top ten activities we spent the most time on. If they didn't line up, he encouraged us to reevaluate how we were spending our time. I'm willing to overlook our other disagreements on what my particular responsibilities as an RA were for that gem of an exercise.

Because of the coronavirus, we have been reminded what is essential and what is not. But we have not yet re-allocated our resources to reflect this new awareness. The non-essential workers who tap their keyboards (myself included) frequently make more than the essential workers who feed and clean up for human society.

Now is the time to have discussions about how to direct resources back to the essential laborers that support our society. Those resources will include capital but also decision-making authority. Some of it will have to end up in undocumented laborers, as well. I don't know what this process will look like, but if we continue to funnel resources away from essential workers, I predict an unpleasant future. Removing the supports of a building always ends poorly for the building.