For similar reasons I have recently been entertaining the idea of government as employer-of-last-resort. Essentially, have the government spend lots of money on creating businesses designed to employ the unemployed, with good working conditions and pay, and don't immediately focus on making the operation profitable. This would, I hope, create positive pressure on wages and conditions in low-skilled jobs: no stream of desparate people they could rely on, and an alternative employer raising the bar.

I wasn't thinking of COVID-19 when I contemplated it though. It's not a new idea of course.