The Covid pandemic opened our eyes to the jobs society can't live without. From nurses to lorry drivers, supermarket shelf-stackers to reception staff, the roles often seen as lower status proved indispensible. Left and right, for pragmatic reasons of filling vacancies and for moral reasons of rewarding hard work, called for unprecedented wage rises in these newly valued and vital sectors. But changes in wage levels also implies a reassessment of the relative value we attach to the roles themselves.
Should we conclude that we have overvalued professional and middle class office and management roles? Do we need to abandon the assumption that a university education leads to a more highly paid and valued role, and eradicate current social hierarchies in order to level up? Or should we retain pay differentials and protect the status quo with the educated elite taking their rightful place at the top?