This is partially what I meant to argue. ER Nurses as well are absolutely crazy sometimes about taking on overtime by choice, because they rake it in AND get some value out of the physical and emotional labour.
Doing furniture moving was easier to do every day than a salaried dev job tbh. It was grueling 10 hr days for shit pay, but you got to talk to clients, and they tipped pretty well, and there was an obvious value created. Also you physically get stronger.
As to manual labor, most of what’s been automated has been manual labor. Not just obvious stuff like dishwashers but heaters and cars save extreme amounts of physical effort.