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Blurb

}Persuaded by a colleague to go “undercover” as a low wage worker, Barbara Ehrenreich, author of 21 books, discovers what it truly takes to survive on minimum wage. The award-winning columnist and essayist finds that even those who work full time can not escape poverty. Ehrenreich tells her story of her experience in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota working as a waitress, maid, nursing home aide, and a sales associate at Wal-Mart. She opens the eyes of Americans to the problem that the truly poor face every day.

Nickel and Dimed: May 13, 2011. Journal 4

This section begins when the author continues searching for affordable housing and a possible second job for the weekends.  She gets some responses, but like earlier in the book, nothing works out in her favor.  She eventually moves into the Comfort Inn where she hopes to move out of after a couple of nights.  When the author is working in the lady’s department at Wal-Mart she notices the moms that come through with their children in the carts.  She becomes aware that these are the same moms who have to pick up after their kids who leave things laying all over at home.  Now the roles are reversed.  When moms come to shop at Wal-Mart, they are the ones who can pull things off the rack and leave them lying wherever.  Later in this section, while working at Wal-Mart, Ehrenreich starts to wonder “why anyone puts up with the wages they’re paid” (178).  She realizes that so many of the people working at Wal-Mart truly are poor and doing everything they can to make a living.  It’s not long after that that she begins the initial planning for starting a union.  She feels strongly about this so that the Wal-Mart employees might someday have better working conditions. 

As a group, we all agreed that the evaluation was very useful.  It had very helpful statistics that put things into perspective.  We thought that it was important to include how much the wages have increased in the evaluation.  We all felt that minimum wage hasn’t increased enough to compensate for the increases in our daily necessities, the biggest being gasoline. 

We felt it was interesting that companies will easily give their employees “free” meals, discounts, or special treats, but at the same time, they have a hard time giving their employees a raise.  It seems that they will do whatever it takes to avoid paying higher wages because they can’t be taken away unlike some of these perks.  One of our group members can directly relate to this.  She and her co-workers were given free lunches as a perk instead of getting a raise.  Now their free lunches have been taken away.

Our group ran across a book that is very similar to Nickel and Dimed.  Scratch Beginnings, written by Adam Shepard, tells of his experience attempting to live on minimum wage.  Nickel and Dimed was his inspiration for his book so readers interested in Ehrenreich’s book may enjoy Shepard’s as well.  Another similar experience is Morgan Spurlock’s making of 30 Days.  He and his fiancé attempt to live on minimum wage for 30 Days.  They end up getting in several arguments and deal with many misfortunes.  Similar to Ehrenreich in Nickel and Dimed, Spurlock and his fiancé struggle to succeed living on minimum wage. 
For more information on Scratch Beginnings and 30 Days, check out the links below.
http://www.scratchbeginnings.com/
http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/morgan-spurlocks-30-days-living-on-minimum-wage.html

10 Additional Sources on Poverty & Minimum Wage

Works Cited

“About Poverty.” Poverty. U.S. Census Bureau, 16 Sept. 2010. Web. 13 May 2011. The U.S. Census Bureau demonstrates how they measure poverty.  There are several statistics to show increases in the number of people in poverty.

Hough, Andy. “How to Get Ahead on Minimum Wage.” Money. U.S.News & World Report LP, 25 June 2010. Web. 13 May 2011. This article considers what it takes to live on minimum wage.  They specifically discuss how to cut back on housing, transportation, food, and entertainment.  In the end this article suggests that getting by and even getting ahead while living on minimum wage can be done.

“Living Wage Calculation for Wisconsin.” http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/‌states/‌55. The Pennsylvania State University, 2011. Web. 6 May 2011. This website calculates both the living wages for a certain county and the poverty levels in the county.  It looks at separate expenses like food, childcare and housing.  It also looks at typical hourly wages for various jobs.

“Minimum Wage.”  30 Days. FX. 15 June 2005. Television. This video is the story of Morgan Spurlock’s journey through living on minimum wage.  Him and his girl friend decided to try this experiment to see if it was possible to support themselves while only earning minimum wages.

“Minimum Wage Laws in the States - January 1, 2011.” United States Department of Labor. Division of Communications Wage and Hour Division, 2011. Web. 13 May 2011. The United States Department of Labor has an incredible amount of information on labor and wages.  This specific page has the minimum wages for each state, and includes a map of the U.S. to illustrate which states pay higher, lower, or the same as the Federal minimum wages, and which states do not have a minimum wage law.

Pete. “Overcoming Poverty Consciousness.” My Financial Awareness. My Financial Awareness, L.L.C., 2008. Web. 9 May 2011. This website is about defining poverty and how it happens. It gives advice how how it can be prevented and overcome.  It is very informative for those that are in this kind of situation.

“Poverty in the United States-FAQ.” National Poverty Center. University of Michigan, 2006. Web. 9 May 2011. This website addresses some common questions regarding poverty in the United States.  It discusses how the U.S. measures poverty, how many people are born into poverty, how poverty changes over time and how poverty is different throughout the country, among other topics.

Shepard, Adam. Scratch Beginnings. N.p.: Harper Paperbacks, 2010. Print. This book is about Adam Shepard’s journey to start with nothing and make a life of himself on low wages.  He was inspired by “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich to write this book.  If you were intrigued by Ehrenreich’s story, this would be a great read for you.

“The Story of Stuff.” The Story of Stuff Project. Creative Commons, 2011. Web. 13 May 2011. The Story of Stuff Project addresses environmental, social, and economic concerns.  The Story of Stuff Project includes a book, videos, and a website with additional sources and an ongoing blog.

Walmart Workers Speak Out About Abusive Working Conditions. YouTube. N.p., 27 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 May 2011. This YouTube video hears from two former Wal-Mart employees.  They are both very much opposed to opening Wal-Mart stores throughout New York City because of the awful working conditions.

Discusion Leader. Section 8. Pages 199-221. Alex Webster

According to Ehrenreich the poverty system needs to be overhauled. If it were up to you how would you determine what the poverty level would be?

a.    I would actually have numbers compiled for what is needed to live at the bare minimum of human decency. Anything under that would be poverty. This is a better way than 3 times the cost of food. This is an outdated method. Food has actually gone down, while rent has gone way up.

The author brings up the topic that employers will often give perks over wage increases. Have you ever had a job that employed that same strategy?

b.    Yes, my job pays very low, but I get a 5% discount for me and my family. This is there way of trying to give a perk. But if they want to they could take it away. They know that it will cost much less than if they were to give people raises.

Ehrenrecich brings up the issue of wage secrets. Have you ever experienced how people refuse to discuss wages?

c.    Yes, when I was first hired at my job, my mother told me not to tell anyone how much I was making. It was none of their business and it could get me in trouble. But eventually I found out what people were making. When I came to Eau Claire I found out that people were all making more than me for the same job.

The author discusses how mangers believe without them the workplace would halt to a stop. Do you agree with her claim that managers are not as useful as they think?

d.    Yes I believe that mangers rarely get me to work any harder. I think that there seem to be many bosses. Some are useful but there doesn’t need to be as many as there are. The more managers there are the less that actually gets done. Managers are paid to do supervise and not actually do work.

Graphic Organizer. Section 8. Pages 199-221. Kassi Bierman

    

     As the rich buy out all of the housing they leave the lower standards housing options.  These low quality housing options are usually not in the main part of the city but instead are farther away.  This causes even more expenses for the poor people, including gas and the extra time spent driving and commuting.  This cheaper housing is not inexpensive though; it is still nearly unaffordable for minimum wage workers.

Summarizer. Section 8. Pages 199-221. Brittney Nehring

This is the Evaluation section of the book, and she does exactly that.  Barbara reflects on what keeps these wages low.  She talks about how the labor shortage in many cities could be because of the unwillingness of people to work these low wages.  It was interesting how she says employers will often do anything except raise wages, instead they will offer free meals and discounts because these things can easily be taken away if needed.  One thing that restricts people in the low wage jobs from leaving is the fact that many of them don’t have their own transportation and rely on someone else.  This prevents them because they would have no way of getting to work if the distance was greater.  People also stay at these low wage jobs because the employers make them feel unworthy, therefore they think they are getting paid all that they are worth, and couldn’t get higher pay.  Ehrenreich writes this section in a way that shows she has done the research and knows what she is talking about.  She explains reasons for why things are the way they are with low wages and also is very confident in what she believes when saying poverty should be treated as an emergency.  This section is written to put some additional meaning to her experience.  It is also written very casual as the rest of the book was.