Working isn’t necessarily being exploited though.
I have a great boss for a small company. Last year we got pay rises and a reduction in hours at the same time. Don’t feel I’m being exploited, it’s quite the opposite as works comes second to our health.
I’ve lost track of how much sick time I’ve had due to mental health etc. we are not giving targets or micromanaged or anything like that.
I understand the surplus value argument and I’m not dismissing it, within that framework you’re technically correct. But reducing all employment to exploitation by definition flattens a meaningful distinction between a worker being genuinely mistreated and one who isn’t.
My point wasn’t that capitalism is perfect or that my experience is universal. It was that employment isn’t inherently exploitative in the lived sense, conditions, power dynamics, and how surplus is distributed all matter. A framework that calls everything exploitation equally makes it harder to identify and fight actual exploitation where it’s causing real harm.