The family type from the monthly budget exercise that will be reflected in this paper consists of two parents with two children, a six year old daughter and a nine year old son, living in Montreal with a monthly income of $9456—an income source that is twice the median income. In the selection of the housing location, there was a debate between Griffintown and Nuns Island. Ultimately, Griffintown was chosen as it is more centrally located near downtown and the district is a newly developing urban neighbourhood which would be better suited for the children. It was decided that renting a condo would be the optimal choice being that it would be easier to move locations to a newer area, if desired to do so, without having any economic worries if …show more content…
For example, the more notable difference would be the amount spent on children’s education—in comparing with the same family type as mine, the family with a full-time minimum wage pays $47.89/month for their children’s education while the family with a median income pays $400/month, both at a public school. Whereas, my family type spent a more significantly amount due to the fact that both children are enrolled in a private school. This shows that family’s earning more than the median, are more likely to have their children go to a private education. Moreover, a similarity I found across all family types were the main expenses where money would be primarily dedicated to—specifically, housing, food, utilities, clothing, and having a mobile device and internet. For transportation, I noticed that the majority of family types had OPUS cards—with the exception of individuals on social assistance and full-time minimum wage having bicycles—and the family types of four with a median income, or twice the median income (including my own family type), owned up to two vehicles. This illustrates the difference in terms of costs being distributed for this category as OPUS cards cost about a tenth of what all the expenses would be in owning a car. What’s more, the amount of money set aside for “other” expenses were highly variable across the different family types, with some who could not afford to put any amount at all—such as, the single mother with 2 children on social assistance and on a full-time minimum wage—to a family of two parents and two teenage children making twice the median income who could spend $1431.54/month. Ultimately, I have learnt that for many people, despite having a minimum wage, it is very difficult for an individual to live (and survive) with
She explains that the poverty level for any size family is figured by taking the cost of food and multiplying it by three (Ehrenreich, 2011, p. 200). When this figure was first introduced in the 1960s the percent of money spent on food and housing in a family’s budget were similar. Comparing it to the percent of money spent on food (24%) and housing (29%) in the 1999s you’ll see there’s a lot more money being spent on housing (37%) than food (16%) (Ehrenreich, 2011, p. 200). So on paper the poverty level seems to be decreasing and make it seem like most people in America are not living in poverty. This clearly is not the case, looking at the percentages given by Ehrenreich (2011), the cost of housing increased dramatically leaving many people still living in poverty. The way American is framing the poverty levels is very deceiving, many people are living in poverty, and finding it extremely hard to get out of poverty. Ehrenreich in her evaluation said, “the ‘working poor,’ as approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropist of our society” (Ehrenreich, 2011, p. 221). She says this because throughout every job she had and all the co-workers she encountered they all had families or personal concerns, but put those to the side for their shifts to make sure others were feed, had clean homes, clean fitting rooms and organized shopping centers (Ehrenreich, 2011,
Federman, M. et al. What Does it Mean to be Poor in America? 1996 (2009). Pp. 296-310
Poverty in America is a very complex issue that can be looked at from many directions. There are a plethora of statistics and theories about poverty in America that can be confusing and at times contradicting. It is important to objectively view statistics to gain a better understanding of poverty and to wade through the stereotypes and the haze of cultural views that can misrepresent the situation.The official poverty line in America begins with a person making at or below $12,060. To calculate the poverty line for a family, an additional $4,180 is added to the base of $12,060 for each additional member(“Federal Poverty Level Guidelines”). According to the last U.S. census, over 45 million or 14.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty line(Worstall). At this level, the U.S. poverty level has not changed much from the 1970s when the government began a “War on Poverty.” However,
In her book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2001), Barbara Ehrenreich performs a social experiment in which she transplants herself from her comfortable middle-class life and immersing herself in the plight of the “millions of American’s (who) work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages” (Ehrenreich, 2001). Her goal was to explore the consequences of the welfare reform on the approximately four million women who would be subsequently forced into the labor market, expecting to make only $6 to $7 an hour. (2001 p.1) Her experiment eviscerated the idea that the American underclass was lazy, and the lie that American’s could live healthy, productive lives on minimum wage. On the contrary, she proved underclass Americans to be among the hardest working of the classes, and effectively illustrated the nigh impossibility of these people to break free of the cycle of poverty and find a way to improve their situation.
In the colonization of Turtle Island (North America), the United States government policy set out to eliminate the Indigenous populations; in essence to “destroy all things Indian”.2 Indigenous Nations were to relocate to unknown lands and forced into an assimilation of the white man 's view of the world. The early American settlers were detrimental, and their process became exterminatory.3 Colonization exemplified by violent confrontations, deliberate massacres, and in some cases, total annihilations of a People.4 The culture of conquest was developed and practiced by Europeans well before they landed on Turtle Island and was perfected well before the fifteenth century.5 Taking land and imposing values and ways of life on the social landscape
While the inequality between wages and income are often frowned upon by modern middle-class and lower-class societies, the gap between the wealthy and poor often proves beneficial. Because the difference in income levels between these two classes of society are steadily increasing, the incentives of the less wealthy are increasing as a result. An incentive is any factor (financial or non-financial) that enables or motivates a particular course of action. The impact of this increasing gap has created a higher demand for education, produced a competition among people to...
...ties and $1035 is left. It is easier to see how a family could survive off of this. They would be able to make a better budget to buy groceries and other necessities, and still be able to spend money on fixing things that break. It would take away the need for two parents to work, which means that children will more likely have a parent home. This would also give people a chance to buy better quality food. Everyone deserves to eat the best quality of food because it is a basic need. It is not fair that economic status determines one’s health.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2014 African Americans held the highest poverty rate of 26%, with Hispanics holding the second highest rate at 24% (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). When comparing this to the poverty rates of Whites at 10% and Asians at 12% in 2014, we see that in America, racial and ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to experiencing poverty (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). In addition, discrimination is seen between genders among those living in poverty. Family households of a single adult are more likely to be headed by women and are also at a greater risk for poverty (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). In 2014, 30.6% of households headed by a single woman were living below the poverty line compared to 15.7% for households headed by a single male (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). Many factors such as poor wages for women, pregnancy associations, and the increase of single-woman parented families have impacted the increase of women in poverty. Children are most harshly affected by poverty because for them the risks are compounded, as they lack the defenses and supports needed to combat the toxicity surrounding them. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 21% of all U.S. children (73.6 million children) under 18 years old lived in poverty in 2014 (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor,
Data generated by the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Reserve and other nonpartisan sources oppose claims commonly made. For example, data from such agencies show that differences in family income largely reflect differences in how many members of a family actually work and how hard they work. Americans in all income groups have prospered, or have failed to prosper, together. Gains by upper-income Americans have not come at the expense of middle or lower-income Americans. Nor has anyone else gained in those periods when higher-income families have lost ground.
Sherwood, Mark K. (1977). “Bureau of Labor Statistics Family Budget Programs.” U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare. January.
Supiano, Beckie. "3 Things to Know About the Expected Family Contribution and College Affordability Comments." The Chronicle of Education. Head Count, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
While creating my hypothetical family I did not want to have the average American family that consist of a mother, father and multiple children. Instead, I decided to have a single mother, 33 years of age and her daughter 15 years of age. The main income source for the family comes from the mother who makes an average of one thousand four hundred and fifty dollars a month. The last source of income is from child support of the daughter which is one hundred and fifty three dollars. The two bedroom apartment the family lives in is five hundred and forty dollars, the utilities bill is one hundred and nineteen dollar and the monthly car payment and insurance is three hundred and seventy dollars. The grand total of expenses is one thousand one hundred and twenty nine dollars which only leaves four hundred and seventy four dollars for emergencies or situations that may arise.
Long, Sharon K. (2003). "Choosing among Food, Housing, and Health Insurance." Hardship among the Uninsured: Http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/310775_B-54.pdf. Urban Institute.
Affordability is one of the biggest determining factor of whether students continue with their education and attend college or decide to finish their studies and go to work. A college application that allows students to even be considered for a spot in the institution requires students to pay an application fee. As a result, students who came from low-socioeconomic status families did not apply to many colleges as students who came from middle-socioeconomic status families or high-socioeconomic status families because they could not afford to pay for many applications (Denson, et al., 2014). Families must also consider the price of a college education for four years when they are deciding on a college. If the family cannot afford college tuition, room & board, meals, and transportation, then they are unable
Take me for example, a college student and a mother of one. I find it hard to successfully attend college and keep a job at the same time. My family and myself, right now, are at the bottom of the barrel. When we moved back from Tennessee, we had to use all the money we had saved. After paying one month and a halt of rent, both phone bills, and the electricity bill, we had to turn around scrape for food and the following months rent, not including our other bills. At first it was too hard. We felt like ends were not meeting, so I had to find a job. So now the way it works at my house is we both split the bills. My fiancée has the really big bills like the rent and the insurance payment while I have the light bill, both phone bills, cable, and the internet bill. We both share the food bill, household items, and clothing. It is essential for me to work to help make ends meet. This is an example of one of the ways some households work. Even though I sometimes have a tough time with school I still manage to stay in school. This is one family that needs to have two incomes to make ends meet.