As a living being, the first profession is to live.
These young men are digging earnestly in the mud for gold; they are working through trash and muck, decomposing food, ashes, and rotting flowers. They are trying to find the jewelery of the wealthy dead who have been cremated, and whose ashes have been sent into the river. They are working hard to reinject capital into the economy: capital that has already fulfilled its ceremonial purpose and has already helped (if it can) the the individual who has moved on.
Are these not admirable people? Is this not an honourable job? Are they less determined and tenacious than the average person? Are they less resilient than the average person, who would not doubt scorn their transgression of social norms?