Mike Rowe on reexamining 'Dirty Jobs' amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Mike Rowe returns to the Discovery Channel in brand-new series 'Dirty Jobs: Rowe'd Trip.'
"Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that it’s “insane” to tell unemployed Americans during the coronavirus pandemic that their work is nonessential.
Rowe made the comment one day before a new season of his show “Dirty Jobs” is set to return to television. In the new season, which Rowe said was taped just two weeks ago, he goes on a road trip in a RV and visits some past participants on the show.
He also appeared on “Fox & Friends” two days after President Trump signed a bill on Saturday extending the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a lifeline to businesses struggling to keep paying employees, through Aug. 8.
The deadline for small business owners to apply for a PPP loan had been June 30, but more than $134 billion of the coronavirus pandemic stimulus program was left afterward, according to the Small Business Administration.
The majority of businesses that closed during the pandemic remained shut last month, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from review site Yelp Inc., which found about 140,000 businesses listed on Yelp have not yet reopened.
Host Brian Kilmeade asked Rowe on Monday, “What do you do with somebody who sees their self-esteem wrapped up in their occupation and suddenly they have nothing to do during the day and they don't know if their job will be back when the economy comes back?”
“The first thing you don't do is you don't tell them they're nonessential. That is insane,” Rowe said in response.
He went on to say that “it's easy when times are flush to look at the difference between an essential and a nonessential worker,” adding that that’s not the case “when you take 40 million people out of the workforce and deem them nonessential in the process.”
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In the span of three months, close to 46 million Americans lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus-induced shutdown. The speed and magnitude of job losses are without precedent and are more than double what the U.S. saw during the global financial crisis a decade ago.
“The impact on the economy is obviously devastating so the big headline for me on a personal level was there is no such thing as nonessential work,” Rowe said.
“At the same time, I run a show called ‘Dirty Jobs’ that looks specifically at jobbers who are the very definition of essential work so it's a strange time for me to be out there waving that particular flag, but we do it in a big way because I thought the country would appreciate a road trip and a chance to look back at jobs that are still right now in demand in spite of everything that's happening to our country.”
When asked how people can help unemployed workers regain self-esteem Rowe said, “The beginning thing is appreciation.”
He went on to say that “the biggest positive unintended consequence” of “Dirty Jobs” was “challenging people to imagine a world without the UPS driver, without the infrastructure folks, without whoever is responsible for letting this Internet connection work, so we can talk about this very thing.”
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“Fostering that level of appreciation is job one because if you don't have that, you're simply pushing the rock up the hill,” Rowe continued.
Fox Business’ James Leggate and Megan Henney contributed to this report.
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