Here's The Painful Truth About What It Means To Be 'Working Poor' In America

Here's The Painful Truth About What It Means To Be 'Working Poor' In America

by Nick Wing & Carly Schwartz | Huffington Post | Posted: 05/19/2014 1:22 am EDT
Excerpts:

"In a nation that has long operated on the principle that an "American Dream" is available to anyone willing to try hard enough, the term "working poor" may seem to have a bright side. Sure, these individuals struggle financially, but they have jobs - the first and most essential step toward lifting oneself out of poverty, right?

If only it were that simple.

According to 2012 Census data, more than 7 percent of American workers fell below the federal poverty line, making less than $11,170 for a single person and $15,130 for a couple. By some estimates, one in four private-sector jobs in the U.S. pays under $10 an hour. Last month, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have raised the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, despite overwhelming public support for the measure.

And these numbers don't say anything about the many Americans who earn well above the official poverty line and still barely stay afloat. In Huff-Post's "All Work, No Pay" series, the working poor told their own stories, painting a devastating portrait of their day-to-day struggles.

They're a diverse range of people: single parents, couples with and without children, young women with graduate degrees, business owners, seniors and everyone in between. Their financial situations, however, show many similarities. Jobs generally provide them with the means to barely scrape by, treading paycheck-to-paycheck, earning just enough to keep from going under, swallowing their pride sometimes to take food stamps or visit food banks. Others are entirely out of work, tirelessly seeking employment and relying on other means to survive.

Earlier this year, 55-year-old Glenn Johnson was making about $14,000 a year - or $7.93 an hour - at a Miami-area Burger King. He'd been in and out of the fast food industry for more than 30 years. Recently he watched as his employer reported a 37 percent increase in its quarterly profit, while continuing to resist a minimum wage increase that workers like Johnson have been fighting for.

Johnson described his daily routine as "pure hell." It's a nonstop effort to keep the store clean and the customers and his managers - most of whom are less than half his age - happy. "Sometimes, I get home and I’m so tired, I eat dinner, take a shower, lay down to watch TV, and I’m going to sleep," he said. "Next morning comes. I’m tired, but I'm trying to make it."

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...wages_n_4982230.html?utm_hp_ref=@working_poor
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IMO: In a separate groove in the American workforce scenario, a Burger King worker tells us about his day at work, what he makes a week and what his bills are. He is tired but is working in a low paying job because he needs the money to pay his bills. Noticeably absent is his trust in his future and in America as he struggles from day to day, not being able to see a doctor for a bad cold because he has no health insurance.

What has happened to America that this should befall once happily employed American workers; it is like some painful joke has being played on Glenn Johnson and he is trying to live thru it. But who would be so hateful to an American worker..the most hard working and loyal workers in the world?

Their Bosses! Who should be shamed into at least being fair and open as to their cheapness and hateful disinterest in the plight of their poor workers while they rake in vast profits from their workers low paying jobs. It is truly disgusting, and we need a Union which will represent the American worker in this country.

 

What is Glenn Johnson's education?

 

Hey Agent_286,

What is the education and criminal record of your 55 year old poster child?

 

Behold the fruits of decades of over-regulation.

 

Without more information on the poster child in the story how can we evaluate this latest screed from the far left?

 

People with no skills and working for MW don't deserve the "American Dream". That is RESERVED for people who do the right thing.

 

I doubt his figures include government support payments.

Studies show that spending by the lowest decile of reported incomes is far in excess of their reported income.

 

Over-regulation has driven most of the good-paying jobs offshore. Colombia (of all places) is now a hot spot. All that are left are the McJobs that cannot be moved.

 

Thats very true and most of the damage has been caused by stupid liberal policies.

 

IMMATERIAL!! A person who works 40 hours a week should make a LIVING WAGE. We have always had people whose educations were high school
and even less. They learned a skill. Became plumbers, electricians, carpenters, car mechanics, tool and die workers, worked at GM, Ford, Chrysler and became cops, firemen, EMTs and went into the military. They kept a wife and 2-4 kids fed, dressed, and many afforded a college education for those kids. Now 2 INCOMES for 2 people with HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATIONS barely keeps people out of poverty or they are in poverty! One sick 'event' and they are saddled with debt and possibly bankruptcy. Forget giving their kids a college education.

IF A WORKER WORKS FULL TIME, HE/SHE SHOULD MAKE A LIVING WAGE. PERIOD!

 

Surely burger flipping used to support a house , right ?

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If you dont want to educate yourself that is your own problem. You cant (*)(*)(*)(*) in your own (*)(*)(*)(*) and feel sorry for yourself and expect to pay all your bills and everything else you demand. If you want more, work 2 jobs. Or , go to school like many others do. Plumbers, carpenters , car mechanics, tool and die workers, etc... all make good money... those are called /// skills/// . Flipping a burger does not require skills. That is the REAL painful truth.

 

Taxcutter says:
To my knowledge these were never minimum wage jobs.

 

No but one might start working minimum wage and in time work up to be a shift supervisor then store manager and could go into regional corporate work and go to school to get a degree say a two-year degree while doing this say early in ones career in this or that fast food company. And could maybe manage a store and save to start ones own store in a franchise.

Options like that are getting harder when the education costs to much to be practical.

 

Taxcutter says:
Maybe you should take that issue up with some university presidents.

 

What is that "right thing"?

 

A person's education, work history, criminal background, drug addictions must be known in order to understand how someone could be stuck in a dead end job like like burger flipping FOR 30 (*)(*)(*)(*)ING YEARS!


If you dont know that then you are just shooting at noises in the dark.

 

Getting a high school diploma.

Not spending time in prison.

Not being a drunk or a drug addict.

Learning a trade or a skill instead of taking the lowest iq jobs he can find.

 

There are a good number of economists that would argue that Deregulation of the financial sector caused our current economic crash. The corporate world has been paying our elected officials to deregulate them for decades now, and they are getting their money's worth. Corporate welfare is handed out to these large corporations with no strings attached. The least US corporations can do would be to create jobs here in the US for all the tax payer's money they get each year.

 

Flipping a burger has NO VALUE to America?? Really? I guess women who flip burgers and turn over chicken parts at the school cafeteria have NO VALUE. How about the women who wipe your ass in a nursing home or a hospital or your children's daycare has NO VALUE??

I am always TRULY ASTONISHED at Republicans. They make it 'out' or UP and think they are genius and worked harder than everyone else and chose not to look back. Democrats make it 'out' or UP and are truly greatful, know that at least a little luck was involved, and don't forget where they came from! It is THE quantum difference between LIBERALS and CONSERVATIVES.

 

That's all well and good, but sadly we have well educated people with college degrees working for minimum wage in this country. They are people who have done the right thing, but with the shrinking middle class and a lack of jobs these college grads find themselves in too much debt and too little income. The people who dropped out of high school and got into crime are doing better financially than most who did the right thing.

 

They dont deserve the same pay that a doctor or a registered nurse gets.

 

You are now comparing registered nurses to burger flippers .... do you have any idea about skilled labor ? If anything, the burger flipper is actually harming america by helping serve food that leads to obesity and cancer. As far as your partisan rant take the soap box some place else.

 

A living wage is hard to define.

When I was 18 and on my own I saved for my home (which I put a down-payment on at 22) on a wage that was below the poverty line. I did so by making hard choices. Over 30 years later we still have work to do on our 'fixer upper', but it was one of the choices that helped us do better by our kids.

Your idea about what happened in the past is also not true.

Born in the early 60s I lived a life as a youngster that made it clear to me that that is not true. Two incomes and we were scraping by for food on the table (often) and sometimes went with bread or potatoes only for a couple of days. Nor were my parents able to supply us with shoes for gym, nor our own home, nor secondary education. ALL of us kids worked from the ages of 11 or 12 on up to help support each other as well.

Eventually, with our help, they pulled their way out of the hole that they had dug for themselves by being irresponsible in their twenties. It was a good lesson for all of their kids and we've done well by it, mostly by being pragmatic in our choices (which they had not been).

 

You mean because of the welfare system that rewards people who make bad decisions?

 

A 55 year old man who works at Burger King has made a WHOLE lot of bad decisions that I refuse to be held responsible for.

You make your bed...you lay in it.