What became known as “essential work” during the pandemic was really just forced labor, according to labor market economist Suresh Naidu. He shares employers' secret tricks for manipulating the labor market and explains how powerless most workers have become as a result.

This episode was originally released in September 2020.

Suresh Naidu is a professor of economics and international and public affairs at Columbia University as well as a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Twitter: @snaidunl

‘Essential’ workers are just forced laborers: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/05/21/essential-workers-pay-wages-safety-unemployment 

Website: https://pitchforkeconomics.com 

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics

Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer