Omicron Is Making America’s Bad Jobs Even Worse

Even on a good day, service jobs are pretty hard. Your schedule is constantly changing, you’re on your feet, you’re at the mercy of the general public, and the pace of your shifts swings between crushing boredom and frenetic activity. You’re probably not guaranteed any particular number of hours in a given week, and you can be cut from the schedule or called in to work at the last second. For all that, you’re paid too little to cover the basic needs of an American adult: a median of $12 to $14 an hour, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So far, Omicron has not provided service workers with any good days. As the highly transmissible, immunity-evading coronavirus variant surges across the country, it has , infected record numbers of people, and made everyday life a nightmare for workers in stores, restaurants, gyms, schools, health-care facilities, and so many other workplaces. Many workers are currently sick or have been exposed to the virus, and make it unclear how” that workers must navigate with little institutional or governmental support. For businesses that remain open, understaffing and supply shortages make workers’ interactions with customers even more tense and dangerous.