Hard-working lower classes ordered to waste time (9)
I believe the answer is:
dedicated
'hard-working' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'lower classes ordered to waste time' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'time' could be 't' and 't' is present in the answer.
'lower classes' could be 'de' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'de' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
(Other definitions for dedicated that I've seen before include "Devoted to a cause or ideal 99)" , "Committed" , "exclusive" , "Devoted to a particular cause or purpose" , "Diligent" .)