“Earn a living only with difficulty” does hurt a little (7)

I believe the answer is:

scratch

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'hurt a little' is the definition.
'scratch' can be an answer for 'hurt' (thesaurus). I am not certain of the 'a little' bit.

I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for scratch that I've seen before include "score with > no handicap given" , "Lacerate" , "Back out of race" , "Score a surface" , "small injury" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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