The Working Poor In Nickel And Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich

The working poor are those whose incomes fall under a given poverty line. Depending on how one defines "working" and "poverty," someone may or may not be counted as part of the working poor, but even though anyone who may not be counted, each one of them are from the working poor who ultimately don’t earn enough money that is required to survive. Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist and an author of Nickel and Dimed, is not literally a low-wage worker, she acted as an undercover low wage worker. She establishes and realizes there is not much difference between someone who is professing to exist as a waitress and someone who is waitressing. As well as a documentary 30 Days episode one “Minimum Wage” done by Morgan Spurlock and his fiancee Alex,

Although every one are employed, at least some of the time, any one may often find it difficult to save enough money for a deposit on a rental property. As a consequence, some minimum-wage workers end up in living situations that are actually more pricey than a month-to-month rental. For instance, some minimum-wage workers rent rooms in week-to-week motels. According to Ehrenreich, “Given a few days or weeks more to look, maybe I could have done better. But the meter is running at the rate of $59 a day for my digs at the 6, which are resembling a Ballard creation more every day.” (Ehrenreich, 57) In other words, Ehrenreich knows these motel rooms tend to cost a much more than a traditional rental, but are accessible to the minimum-wage workers since a large deposit is not a requirement. If a person is unable or unwilling to pay for a room in a motel, some might live in his or her car, in a homeless shelter, or even on the street. Or as Morgan and his fiancee Alex, who settled on a $325 dollars a month in a renovated crack den (literally) that allowed them to pay the deposit over a few months, only with $300 dollars in savings, this was their best option. Minimum-wage workers who cannot afford a stable home, but might be able to afford a car, or vise versa, cannot afford a car, but be able to afford a house, adopt

Often, childcare costs may exceed low-wage earners ' income, making work, especially in a job with no potential for advancement, an economically illogical activity. In 30 Days one of Morgan’s co-worker had four kids, whereas he had none, and he is supporting them on the same minimum wage. However, some single parents are able to rely on their social networks to provide free or below-market-cost childcare. There are also some free childcare options provided by the government, such as the Head Start Program. However, low-wage jobs force workers to accept irregular schedules for these free options, only which are available during certain hours, which can limit parents ' ability to take jobs that require late-night shifts. In which in this situation, it causes it to be even more difficult for a single low wage parent to receive free childcare. In fact, some employers will not hire someone unless they have "open availability," which means being available to work any time, any day. This makes it difficult for workers to arrange for childcare and to take on a second job. In addition, minimum-wage workers, working hours may fluctuate wildly from one week to the next, making it difficult for them to budget effectively and save up