One common thing speaking to most low paid workers is that they would like to do more work to earn more money, but there is no more work on offer.

Even amongst software engineers, if you asked your boss "can I work a few extra saturdays and get paid a few extra $k", the typical answer is no.

The labour market is far less dynamic than say the market for carrots, where you can of course give a few $ extra and get extra carrots from walmart.