The Working Poor's Impossibility of Survival

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According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employers must abide by the minimum wage policy which states that they must not pay their employees a wage below the set minimum wage. It is often believed that it serves as a protection for the citizens. Though the minimum wage law benefits employees because employers cannot pay them below the minimum wage, the minimum wage, however, does not "protect" them from the struggles and hardships they will most likely encounter. Rather, as millions of Americans work in full-time minimum wage jobs, several of them discover that their wages are insufficient to survive in today's society. In the book Nickel and Dimed, the author Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist with a PH.D, does undercover reporting about low wage workers by obtaining minimum wage jobs in three areas of the United States--Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. As she journeys through the hardships and struggles of becoming a minimum wage worker, Ehrenreich claims that it is impossible to survive as a minimum wage worker. In the chapter "Scrubbing in Maine," Ehrenreich provides many examples that back up her claim as she struggles to survive financially, physically, and socially. Probably the most obvious struggle Ehrenreich encounters in her minimum wage jobs in "Scrubbing in Maine" is the physical demands or hard labor of the jobs. In her first job in Maine, working as a dietary aide for Woodcrest Residential Facility, the job required her to "scrape uneaten food off the dishes[...]rinse the dishes, presoak them, stack them in a rack, and load the rack into the dishwashing machine, which involves bending down almost to floor level with the full rack[...]" (63).Not only did she wash dishes for forty people, but she would ... ... middle of paper ... ...oucher at a South Portland Shop-n-Save" (102). The government assistance in providing people who live in poverty with food vouchers is an excellent example of how low wage workers can survive. Though it is highly possible to survive living through poverty-level wages, it is not possible without some form of assistance. By successfully incorporating examples of her struggles and hardships in her minimum wage jobs in Maine, Ehrenreich is able to convey an important message to the readers: Low wage workers are never truly appreciated. They suffer financially, physically, and socially, just to satisfy the rest of society. These jobs--maids, retail workers, waitresses, nursing home aides--are part of everyday lives that provide aid to the middle and high class. Low wage workers play an essential role to society, but in return receive low wages and looks of disgust.

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