This is easy to say. Can you give examples? I'm no expert on economic history, just a run of the mill history buff, but my impression is that the divide is not

This is easy to say. Can you give examples? I'm no expert on economic history, just a run of the mill history buff, but my impression is that the divide is not between people who are unskilled and in low demand vs. those skilled and in high demand. I would say it is between owners of capital, who are not bound to work for a salary, and everyone else. Typically if you work for a salary you're worried about and dependent on the arrival of the next payment. Regardless of how easy you think it will be to find another job the loss of the current income stream is disruptive. I just finished a book that related the very long working hours of clerks performing accounting tasks for Canton-based American merchant houses during the middle 19th century. So there you had skilled clerks, who had to be imported by sailing vessel from the other side of the pacific, and still felt compelled to work essentially dawn to dusk 6 days a week.