Great post (I love the way you contrast anti-intellectualism on both sides) and I’m not arguing with your specific point here (or the overly general wording of her assertion) but having lived relatively close to the District that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez represents for almost 5 years, I am pretty comfortable saying that the proportion of folks working two jobs is much higher than 5%. I also wouldn’t say that the sample that is District 15 in the Bronx, is likely not representative of the average private employee in the US.
Setting aside my concerns that the 5% metric doesn’t actually capture the true number due to the nature of both reporting and the nature of a lot of these types of jobs (under the table work etc) folks from her district will likely identify with this statement.
Just a little devil’s advocacy! Thank you for your work.