Guaranteed jobs seems to be the newest way for upper-class Democrats to demonstrate they are looking out for the working class. It’s not just a side project, either. Some pundits have suggested that the policy should become “the central tenet of the party’s platform” in 2018.

Instead of guaranteeing jobs to any economically fraught American, though, Democrats should first aim to liberate the American worker from the outdated labor laws applied to the 21st century economy. Let’s face it: the rules of the labor market are rotten at the core. Their expiration date has well and truly passed. Simply creating more rotten apples is not going to solve the problem.

The Center for American Progress (CAP), a think tank with strong policy links to the Democratic Party, seems to disagree. Earlier this year, they sketched out a guaranteed jobs plan which sought to help “our brothers and sisters” left behind by this economy. They go onto equate the “declining fortunes” of the non-college educated to the war-torn realities of Europeans in the 1940s—the report is titled “Toward a Marshall Plan for America.”

The authors found that counties with a higher percentage of their workforce performing “routine jobs” (like manufacturing and sales work) were more likely to vote for Trump. Because these workers were particularly effected by low wages, lost jobs, and diminished mobility, they were more susceptible to President Trump’s populist message.

CAP’s strategy for regaining their support is to have the US government create working-class jobs—4.4 million to be exact. These federally assured jobs are necessary, they argue, because it would help the US economy attain a healthy 79 percent employment rate for prime-age workers without a bachelor’s degree. That in turn would drive up wages for workers across the economy.

These government jobs would provide a “living wage” of $36,000 (which at this time appears not to be regionally adjusted) and health insurance. Many Democrats are convinced that through this program “everyone can have a truly fulfilling and life affirming job.”

Proponents defend the dignity of work by pointing to studies that show “most people get a sense of identity from their job.” But it’s hard to say whether or not this a reflection of work’s inherent value to human life or because we live in a society where our entire existences are centered around wage labor.

That’s why Democrats are wrong to solely focus on the economic anxieties of Americans who are unable to find work.

Economic frustrations already exist for those that do have a job, because (unsurprisingly) most Americans don’t actually like their work. They get super frustrated when they work 60 hours in a week but don’t get compensated for the overtime. They get very anxious when they feel trapped in a low-paying job because they’re afraid of losing their health insurance. These are all common worries for many Americans and simply guaranteeing jobs at the bottom of the economic ladder will not erase these concerns.

CAP’s report barely acknowledges these frustrations of the employed, only noting that sadly “key labor protections…have become weaker over time.”

It’s easy to understand why think-tank policy analysts do not address these shortcomings. The individuals who are pushing guaranteed jobs all derive great meaning, security, and prestige from their jobs. Blinded by their workplace experiences, they erroneously project their feelings about work onto those in the lower economic rungs of society.

The best way for Democrats to level with working-class Americans cannot be “Ok, we agree that labor laws screw you over, but come work at this government job which will follow these same rules.”