New?<p>Dude, work has been by the rich, for the rich, for about as far back as I know of. Probably forever.<p>It's comparative advantage, right? You use Uber because you don't want to drive. You use Deliveroo because you don't want to cook. The supermarket workers earn 1/5th what you do. The restaurant staff earn 1/5th what you do.<p>And so on and so forth.<p>Anyone who makes the transition from working to middle class knows this intimately. Suddenly you're on the other side of interactions.<p>Is it problematic? Sure it's problematic. The entire economy is problematic - if everyone were upper middle class we'd melt the ice caps, faster than we do already (damn.).
I think it's less of "wealth work" and really just "work" and it's good and necessary. Times are never constant, things change all the time. More traditional work (traditional in the context of the last 50-100 years) has been on the decline due to huge advancements in technology, globalisation and other reasons, so it's only normal that we see many jobs go, but equally and luckily also many new jobs come.<p>It's true that there is more "Uber for X" businesses out there today, but 30 years ago we also didn't have "Digital Agencies", "YouTubers", "Influencers", "SEO Experts", "Security Engineers", "Software Architects" and obviously "Uber Drivers". But today people have different jobs than 30 years ago and that is alright.<p>Personally I see this market grow even more in the next two decades. One day someone's job will be to stand in the queue for me to buy me tickets to Wimbledon tennis tournaments or a new iPhone during a launch event. Some might say this is degrading work, but others will love it. We might call it "wealth work" today with a bit of a negative meaning, but I bet a few hundred years ago people felt the same about someone who was cutting your nails, scrubbing your feet and giving you a head massage.<p>A great glimpse into the future of jobs is by looking at Japan. In Japan you can hire someone to "cuddle with you". It's not a sex worker, but as people feel more and more lonely, it's only natural to see a new market rise in this space - where there is a new need (and money) there is a new potential market.
Alternative take: More people are able to start their own small businesses providing services because of increased total wealth. The wealth not only provides clients, but also provides increased access to capital to start said businesses.
I think that "servant work" would be more apt in most cases. And it's sad, of course, that as a society, we don't have a better answer to this growing inequality.
Conversely, "Not Wealth work" is one of America's slowest-growing industries.<p>I'm being very tongue-in-cheek, but as it turns out, the more you make, the more you spend. I view this as a great opportunity to supply a demand (or even better, <i>create</i> a demand! $$$).
and the reason they wealthy are flocking to the US? because they avoid having to pay for the social services programs to their employees which leads to huge profits. foreign workers comes to the US and because they know they can get all these social services once they've returned home, they can underbid their US counterpart. the expanding different between the haves and the have not is purely due to the world wealthy and foreign workers exploiting the lack of social services in the US.
"Between 2010 and 2017, the number of manicurists and pedicurists doubled"<p>Lots of middle class women get manicures and pedicures. Besides, as hourly pay at the top rises, the rich are willing to pay more per hour for labor that saves them time. Economic growth is not a zero sum game.