I think we've all received an Amazon package and I can only assume from the examples I've been given that the threshold for being fired for poor job performance in packing boxes must be lower than that of preparing food at McDonald's.
If you are imagining yourself packaging items at home, or even as an odd job at your own workplace, then you may be forming a picture very different from one accurately representing labor at the warehouses operated by Amazon.
Well, I managed a team of Amazon shoppers at a store for a couple of years, many of whom also worked at the warehouse less than a mile away. They told lots of stories, and the general attitude was one of, "get any warm body in here."
Exactly. So, while it COULD be skilled labor, it doesn't have to be. Which is the same as it not being skilled. Skill can be applied in any job, but if you don't risk losing the job by doing the bare minimum, it's not skilled labor.
Of course, there are lots of great reasons to keep work like this available for people, even at lower wages. I don't think every job has to be a job you can support yourself solely with, but if it has the ability to take 40 of your hours a week to perform, it should be able to cover food and shelter.
Well, you can ask a software engineer if they believe other engineers are skilled labor, and they may surprise you... I think no one argues that if you spend hours taking classes, reading books, and completing tutorials to learn a skill that is required to exist prior to your employment performing that job, then it's skilled labor.