WATCH: CNBC’s Jim Cramer Says Nobody Wants to Die Getting Infected by Unvaccinated Coworker ‘Even for $22 an Hour’

CNBC host Jim Cramer laid out the risks facing workers in Stark relief, saying every in-person job is life or death, and that people don’t want to risk death from unvaccinated coworkers even for $22 an hour.

On Tuesday’s edition of Cramer’s Mad Money, the host addressed the conditions keeping people out of the workforce, and finished by citing the fear of getting Covid from an unvaccinated co-worker:

Look at it this way, of course, people are less willing to work if there’s a chance they’ll get very, very sick, possibly even die before spreading the virus to their families. Every in-person job is now a life or death job. Most people don’t like risking their lives even for 22 dollars an hour, especially if they’re working next to an unvaccinated colleague who catches Covid.

So how do we solve this? You need to give people safety, perhaps herd immunity. Last night, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told us that we could get there in November through some combination of good vaccines and bad infections that give you immunity.

I do know this. Until we get it under control, we’ll need to be worried about wage inflation. And commentators will keep talking about how the Fed needs to slam the brakes on the economy in order to reduce the demand for labor. But you don’t restore the economy with rate hikes. The truth is that there’s no solving this with monetary policy. The only way to fix the labor market is to beat the pandemic.

The comments come as companies have already begun implementing vaccine and testing requirements ahead of the implementation of President Joe Biden’s mandate, and firing workers who don’t comply.

Watch above via CNBC.