The work ethic

I cannot imagine what I would do with my life if I didn't have something to aim for. I grew up in an age when there was very little future for a woman who worked unless she had the education. She had the choice of working for a pittance and living with her parents or marriage. So I married and then became reliant on the goodwill of my husband to keep me. Humiliating at times.
When at last the marriage ended it was a case of going back to work but fortunately by then I was capable of more than I had been before I married. I did not want maintenance because that would mean my income was gained from someone else but I wanted to do something, anything, to earn my own money.
So I started working and it gave me great pleasure to be able to think, when I was paid, you earned that yourself. I could spend it how I wished - no one had given it to me. Not my father, not my husband, and not the state.
I did not have the feeling I had received a handout, and it gave me a feeling of fulfilment and pride - I had achieved something for myself  - and more important it also gave me gave me the greatest feeling of freedom I had ever known. I was independent and I was proud of that.
Yes, I know jobs are hard to come by - I have also lived through hard times - but I have known educated men who would rather take on manual labouring work.  Are there jobs out there - or are some jobs beneath you?