This is insightful. One test we can apply is to ask ourselves, "If I needed to stop working and quit my job permanently because <put compelling reason here, e.g

This is insightful. One test we can apply is to ask ourselves, "If I needed to stop working and quit my job permanently because <put compelling reason here, e.g. illness, old age>, could I do so without enduring a financial disaster leading to <something horrible, e.g. homelessness, relying on the kindness of strangers, suicide>?" I suspect that, for many, if not most of us, the loss of the ability to earn income would be an unspeakably grave event. This puts to the lie that we have any real choice about employment, assuming we are one of the vast majority of people who is not financially independent.