The paper presents a short overview of the internal dynamics of the global working class during the coronavirus pandemic. Its four main strata – mass poverty, the working poor, blue-collar workers and white-collar workers – underwent a sharp process of differentiation. Moreover, they developed disproportionately: the strata of mass poverty and the working poor expanded, and the number of blue-collar workers shrank while white-collar workers experienced a new upswing. The social protection programs of the governments turned out to be a flash in the pan.