Low-Wage Workers

” There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special cost”, meaning that there isn’t any help for the poor but yet they have to pay for everything they need and have. Although it may be true in some cases but I disagree with the statement. The reason why I disagree is because it all depends on the person’s situation. As for Barbara Ehrenreich she bases it on her co-workers life on how some struggle just get by without support. Unfortunately they are in a bad position where they are not able to receive support from others around them or simply because they’re not motivated enough to do something about it and move on.

People who work low-wage jobs aren’t necessarily poor or in need of serious help. Some people work a low-wage job as a second job to earn more income to pay off bills or expense the have. Then there are others who only work a low-wage job expecting to survive off it when in reality that’s not possible the way the economy is right now. In most cases people who do work two jobs usually have support from family members or close friends in case anything goes wrong they will be able help them out in any way they can. That’s the way it is with our family, if my dad isn’t able to pay the house mortgage or utility bills then my older sister or mom will put in the rest to complete the payments.

Then again there are the less fortunate people who aren’t able to fall back on someone especially family members who support and help out the most. The people Ehrenreich, encountered didn’t really have support from others around them and if they did it wasn’t really helpful. One example would be Gail, who rented a flophouse with a roommate who eventually starts hitting on her but she has to put up with it because if not then she wont have enough money to come up with the weekly rent. Each co-worker Ehrenreich, knew had a different story or different situation but the common one was the place they stayed at and how some couldn’t afford an actual apartment or house. Most of them rented a motel room, lived in a trailer, or lived in their car because they didn’t have enough money.

If they were secret economies then people who receive welfare wouldn’t be receiving it if it were a secret. People in the low-wage class believe that there isn’t any help out there for them but there always is. They just have to search around and find information about the programs there are, not only programs but they can receive help from within their community just that many don’t bother with it for some reason simply because they don’t have the time to do so. Another is that some programs that are out there to help out don’t really help, like what happened to Ehrenreich, while working at Wal-Mart and trying to receive help from an agency that then sent her to another place. She was in need of a refrigerator but what she ended up getting was a bunch of useless stuff because the interviewer didn’t pay attention to what her situation was. One reason why that might have happened could have been because of previous people seeking help from the agency coming from the same company. Therefore they didn’t bother paying attention to her story and just assumed she had the same problem as other low-wage worker would have.

In the novel Ehrenreich, seems to only point out the ugly parts of low wage jobs. She brings up how they struggle and aren’t able to stand up for themselves. What she doesn’t understand or see is that it’s not that easy for them to stand up for themselves and if they were to do that then they would need some support to fall back on. An example is when Barbara didn’t quite understand why one of her co-workers wouldn’t complain to her boss that she got hurt on the job, she didn’t complain because she was scared to lose her job. Even after having a sprained ankle she wanted to keep on with her work even though Barbara didn’t want her to and kept holding her back not to do so. There her co-worker had Barbara’s support but it wasn’t enough for her to agree with Barbara to complain and argue with her boss about the injury. In order for people for get off the low-wage problems they will need support, which is what I believe to be the most important part to have if your going to be working those type of jobs.

I see it wrong to say that low-wage workers are poor not all of them are and if they are I don’t see them as being poor just less fortunate. There may be various reasons on what their situation is. Some go through a lot and just give up so they decide to go the easy way where no one cares about them but then again those are just assumptions which are wrong to say as well. People in the low-wage class don’t really have the mentality to have or get a better paying job. Some of the reasons could be because they are brainwashed to believe that they can’t succeed in life anymore so they might as well just put up with low pay horrible jobs.

I say that because I’ve seen managers at my old job do that to co-workers they say “You should just become a Domino’s trainee because you wont find a better job then this.” Companies tend to exploit their workers because they know they’ll do almost anything in order to keep their job and have money to cover their needs. If not then they’ll get fired or at least that’s what most of them believe so but because of companies like that workers have unions to protect them. Even though there are some programs or agency’s that help poor people the main cause for them being like that is the lack of support from family members. The reason I see it like that is because everyone in our family helps each other out when in need of assistance even when one doesn’t have a place to stay in they are always welcomed at our home.