I’ve never seen anyone compare wage theft to violent crime like you’re implying.

It’s usually in the context that wage theft is a much larger problem than people realize - to the point that depending on which source you choose it’s either on par or larger than other forms of theft.

Without even going that far, why should blue collar workers respect the law when the white collar workers are corrupting the legal system for their benefit? Why should the poor tolerate a class war robbing them of their livelihoods and not retaliate?

They also have to torture the numbers to make the case that it's comparable. The "wage theft" numbers they cite include like, some defense subcontractor suing Lockheed Martin for unpaid hours.

It's important that it doesn't happen, but it's just a different order of magnitude of damage for the people sensitive to it.