Well, I suspect it was both.

They’re going to have lots of skilled, well-treated and well-paid workers there. The kind of workers doing the organizing, planning, directing, and finish work. Their equivalent of engineers, managers, foremen, skilled craftsman. I’m sure they could fill an entire dormitory with just decorative hieroglyphics carvers alone. A large pyramid would require hundreds, maybe thousands of these skilled/experienced workers.

But then there’s also the 200 poor bastards hauling ropes to pull a giant stone slab up a ramp. And another 200 waiting at the bottom for their turn to haul the next one. And I’m betting those workers were not well-paid and well-treated. Those are the ones who were likely slaves, used basically as beasts of burden.