Post by ck4829 on Dec 27, 2016 1:56:11 GMT
"I GREW up hearing over and over, to the point of tedium, that 'hard work' was the secret to success: 'Work hard, and you'll get ahead' or 'It's hard work that got us where we are.'
"No one ever said that you could work harder--harder even than you thought possible--and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt."
So writes Barbara Ehrenreich in her new book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
ELIZABETH LALASZ looks at Nickel and Dimed--and the plight of the working poor in the U.S. today.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ACCORDING TO the Economic Policy Institute, a "living wage" for a family of one adult and two children is $14 an hour--or about $30,000 a year.
Yet fully 30 percent of the U.S. workforce--more than 40 million people--make less than $8 an hour.
In her new book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich uncovers the reality of what it means to live on half the living wage--by going "undercover."
Ehrenreich worked several low-wage jobs over the course of two years to investigate the day-to-day reality of life for the working poor.
Her findings confirm what many people felt in their guts during the so-called "miracle economy" of the 1990s.
"These experiences are not part of a sustainable lifestyle, even a lifestyle of chronic deprivation and relentless low-level punishment," Ehrenreich writes.
"They are, by most standards of subsistence, emergency situations. And that is how we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans--as a state of emergency."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EHRENREICH STARTS her research for the book with about $1,000 in cash and a car.
And that, she admits, put her at a distinct advantage over many in the low-wage world. Most don't have this leg up when they start looking for a job.
Ehrenreich's first job is as a waitress in Key West, Fla.--at the Hearthside, a restaurant connected to a Day's Inn.
She makes $2.43 an hour plus tips--which barely amounts to the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.
Few of her coworkers live in decent housing, since they can't afford the rent on their meager salaries.
For example, Gail, a 50-year-old coworker, "has left the flophouse and her annoying roommate and is back living in her truck," Ehrenreich writes. "But, guess what, she reports to me excitedly, Phillip [the restaurant manager] has given her permission to park overnight in the hotel parking lot, as long as she keeps out of sight."
Such living situations are shockingly common.
According to a 1997 report of the National Coalition for the Homeless, nearly one-fifth of all homeless people are employed in full- or part-time jobs.
And no wonder. As of 1998, the coalition found, the average worker has to make an hourly wage of $8.89 to afford a one-bedroom apartment.
That's the national average. In many major cities, where rents skyrocketed during the 1990s, the so-called "housing wage" is much higher.
Ehrenreich found that there are countless obstacles in everyday life for the working poor.
"There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs," she writes.
"If you can't put up the two months' rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week. If you have only a room; with a hot plate at best, you can't save by cooking up huge lentil stews that can be frozen for the week ahead. You eat fast food and Styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved in a convenience store."
Then there's the question of health care.
Workers who are lucky enough to find a job that includes health care insurance usually have to wait for it to kick in.
In the meantime, if you don't have extra money--as most don't--you go without routine care or prescription drugs, and end up paying a price.
Ehrenreich's coworker Gail, for example, ended up living out of her truck after she "ran out of money for estrogen pills," Ehrenreich says.
"She is supposed to be on the company health plan by now, but they claim to have lost her application form and to be beginning the paperwork all over again. So she spends $9 a pop for pills to control migraines she wouldn't have, she insists, if her estrogen supplements were covered."
socialistworker.org/2001/371/371_10_LeftBehind.shtml
groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/burnoatus_anti-cudgel/conversations/messages/2
"No one ever said that you could work harder--harder even than you thought possible--and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt."
So writes Barbara Ehrenreich in her new book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
ELIZABETH LALASZ looks at Nickel and Dimed--and the plight of the working poor in the U.S. today.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ACCORDING TO the Economic Policy Institute, a "living wage" for a family of one adult and two children is $14 an hour--or about $30,000 a year.
Yet fully 30 percent of the U.S. workforce--more than 40 million people--make less than $8 an hour.
In her new book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich uncovers the reality of what it means to live on half the living wage--by going "undercover."
Ehrenreich worked several low-wage jobs over the course of two years to investigate the day-to-day reality of life for the working poor.
Her findings confirm what many people felt in their guts during the so-called "miracle economy" of the 1990s.
"These experiences are not part of a sustainable lifestyle, even a lifestyle of chronic deprivation and relentless low-level punishment," Ehrenreich writes.
"They are, by most standards of subsistence, emergency situations. And that is how we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans--as a state of emergency."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EHRENREICH STARTS her research for the book with about $1,000 in cash and a car.
And that, she admits, put her at a distinct advantage over many in the low-wage world. Most don't have this leg up when they start looking for a job.
Ehrenreich's first job is as a waitress in Key West, Fla.--at the Hearthside, a restaurant connected to a Day's Inn.
She makes $2.43 an hour plus tips--which barely amounts to the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.
Few of her coworkers live in decent housing, since they can't afford the rent on their meager salaries.
For example, Gail, a 50-year-old coworker, "has left the flophouse and her annoying roommate and is back living in her truck," Ehrenreich writes. "But, guess what, she reports to me excitedly, Phillip [the restaurant manager] has given her permission to park overnight in the hotel parking lot, as long as she keeps out of sight."
Such living situations are shockingly common.
According to a 1997 report of the National Coalition for the Homeless, nearly one-fifth of all homeless people are employed in full- or part-time jobs.
And no wonder. As of 1998, the coalition found, the average worker has to make an hourly wage of $8.89 to afford a one-bedroom apartment.
That's the national average. In many major cities, where rents skyrocketed during the 1990s, the so-called "housing wage" is much higher.
Ehrenreich found that there are countless obstacles in everyday life for the working poor.
"There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs," she writes.
"If you can't put up the two months' rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week. If you have only a room; with a hot plate at best, you can't save by cooking up huge lentil stews that can be frozen for the week ahead. You eat fast food and Styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved in a convenience store."
Then there's the question of health care.
Workers who are lucky enough to find a job that includes health care insurance usually have to wait for it to kick in.
In the meantime, if you don't have extra money--as most don't--you go without routine care or prescription drugs, and end up paying a price.
Ehrenreich's coworker Gail, for example, ended up living out of her truck after she "ran out of money for estrogen pills," Ehrenreich says.
"She is supposed to be on the company health plan by now, but they claim to have lost her application form and to be beginning the paperwork all over again. So she spends $9 a pop for pills to control migraines she wouldn't have, she insists, if her estrogen supplements were covered."
socialistworker.org/2001/371/371_10_LeftBehind.shtml
groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/burnoatus_anti-cudgel/conversations/messages/2