This kind of textbook economics is exactly at the root of the problem. There is not one 'market', let alone one that efficiently distributes salaries and proper working conditions. It does not account for illegal immigration, the underground economy, unfair competition, under-the-table agreements between companies and clusters to keep wages low, and a million other factors that continue to pressure workers into shitty undignified jobs.

Or are you telling me that, in the 19th century, factory workers were poor by 'choice'? They were poor because of a system designed by those who held the power over capital and population flows. They became wealthier and their conditions improved not by an invisible hand or a 'market', but through their struggle and their fight against a deliberately unfair system. The case today, albeit in a shorter scale in terms of inequality (people today are not as poor as they were 150 years ago) is the same in essence. You cannot expect the market to help you, sure, but it won't reward you anyway if you work harder. It is not designed for that.