Imagine what would happen if every retail worker in the United States took the day off. Even during a non-pandemic year, the economic consequences would be massive and swift: millions of consumers unable to purchase basic goods and the sudden drop in sales quickly sending shockwaves through the marketplace — to say nothing of the chaos that would ensue at thousands of individual stores across America as hapless corporate managers desperately tried to keep their doors open and their lights on without any employees present to perform their usual tasks.

The current context only underscores the point further: without the approximately 4.6 million retail workers stocking shelves, bagging groceries, cleaning stores, and fulfilling warehouse orders during the pandemic, the economy as we know it would collapse and catastrophe would loom.

In a parallel reality where a person’s earnings were even remotely commensurate to their social contribution, the average employee at Target or Amazon would currently be enjoying their eighth month straight of boosted pay and enhanced benefits. That isn’t the case, of course.