The Working Poor in America

The Working Poor in America

The United States, a place where anyone can “pick themselves up by the bootstraps” and realize the American dream of a comfortable lifestyle. Well, for over 30 million Americans this is no longer possible. Though we live in the richest and most powerful country in the world there are many who are living under or at the precipice of the poverty level, “While the United States has enjoyed unprecedented affluence, low-wage employees have been testing the American doctrine that hard work cures poverty” (The Working Poor, 4). This translates to families of four making around 18,850$ a year. And as soon as they find work or move just slightly above that 18,850$ a year (which is still a meager and deprived way to live) they are cut off from welfare checks and other “benefits”, “they [working poor] lose other supports designed to help them such as food stamps and health insurance, leaving them no better off-and sometimes worse off-than when they were not working” (The Working Poor, 40). The working poor find themselves in a trap of dead-end, minimum wage jobs, and complicated, under funded government programs.

The core of this problem is the low standard for minimum wage. Due to resistance put forth by businesses, the government has only enforced wages that produce lifestyles well below the line of poverty. This standard is leaving 9 million Americans living far under 18,850 a year! “Currently, full-time, full-year work at the federal minimum wage of 5.15$ and hour yields an annual income of 10,300$. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since the late 1960s, as it had done in the previous two decades, its current level would be more than 7.50$ and hour, or 15,000$ a year” (The American Pros...

... middle of paper ...

... get an idea of what their low wages are creating for their employees. This project is going to require my engagement far longer than FYSE is going to last. Helping CCAG and the community is going to take much longer than one month to produce significant results. What I am aiming for in December is to begin the involvement process of students, and assist CCAG (and other community groups) as much as possible. I want the student body to remember that they attend state college and LIVE in this county.

Sources

Hage, David. “Purgatory of the working poor: people seeking help from the job-training and income-support systems face a bureaucratic paper chase and limited resources. There are oases of progress, but much remains to be done”. The American Prospect Inc. Sep 2004.

Shipler, David K. “The Working Poor: Invisible In America”. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.