My Last Paper of My Undergrad Career

Can Americans survive on minimum wage current standards? Barbara Ehrenreich answered this question in her latest book, Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America. Barbara has already developed her good name by writing twelve books, some of which have been named on the New York Times Best Seller list. As she ventured off from her high class status and made her entrance in the lower class, she began to realize that blue collar workers are not lazy, which is a common label placed on them. Since our government set standards for low paid workers, it is up to us, the American citizens to exploit these standards because with them in place Americans cannot survive.

Barbara Ehrenreich sets up three locations around the United States in her trial of being a low paid worker, her goal is to see if she will be able to survive earning minimum wage. Her first stop was in Key West, Florida. She a waitress. Her second stop was in Portland, Maine and this time she was a cleaning lady and worked in a nursing home. Finally, her last stop was in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she was a Wal-Mart associate. At each of these locations Barbara had to find lodging at affordable rates and pay for all of her necessities. As she tried to manage to stay a float from this project Barbara begun to understand that Americans cannot really make it in America with just one job.

Barbara exploited how the job market for the lower class is tough and has a quick turn over ratio. For example, the lower class workers will turn in applications but never seem to get a response. So, Barbara came to the assumption when she was trying to apply for jobs from the want ads, “Most of the big hotels run ads almost continually, if only to build a supply of applicants to replace the current workers as they drift away or are fired, so finding a job is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and flexible enough to take whatever is being offered that day” (p. 15). Also, low wage workers have to physically work hard on their feet all day and everyday; meanwhile, the body can only handle so much abuse and workers have to take time off or quit to let their body recoup. This is why low wage workers cannot survive in America because the pay is so little while there is somebody there waiting to take that job.

Barbara exploited the lodging market in America by scrambling around to find the lowest and safest affordable housing in each of her three locations. In most cases, Barbara stayed in motels for most of her lodging because of the availability. When she talked to her co-workers about their living conditions some were sleeping in their cars or staying in motels as well. In Minnesota, the housing market was so stiff that she had to stay in a motel for $245 a week which she claims is “…scandalously high, higher in fact than my aftertax weekly pay will amount to” (p. 150). On top of that, the motel didn’t have locks on the door or screens in the window. With the higher cost of living and the lows of minimal wage, Americans cannot survive off this equation.

Barbara exploited by the standards of minimal wage that Americans have to multiple jobs in order to survive. At each location Barbara did her investigation she had to obtain two jobs just to make ends meet. Two jobs bring exhaustion and self-inflicting pain to the body. Nobody can maintain a hectic and frustrating cycle on the body year after year. Barbara, herself was having a hard enough time to handle the physical work just in a month work. Minimal wage needs to be readjusted so Americans can survive in a low class work environment.

Barbara exploited how management took advantage and treated their employees with unfairness. When Barbara worked at her second job in Key West, the job environment was hazardous. When Barbara was in Portland, Maine she had an encounter with co-worker, Holly who had twisted her ankle while on the job. Holly was afraid to tell their boss what had happened because she didn’t want to lose the valuable pay or even worse, her job. As Holly apologized to the boss for falling, Barbara was getting upset over the unfair treatment her employer was dishing out. So, Barbara got on the phone and said, “…can’t keep putting money above his employees’ health and I don’t want to hear about ‘working through it,’ because this girl is in really bad shape” (p.110). Holly had a few days off afterwards but her only options were to take off and nurse her ankle without pay or work to pay for her injury. Without Barbara there pushing Holly to voice her injury, the injury would have went unnoticed and management would have taken advantage of yet another low class worker.

What Barbara explored in her investigations was surprising to both her and the readers who are engaged in her book. Barbara uncovered an epidemic that many Americans fight each day, just to make ends meet or put food on the table for their family members. Barbara only did three months of low waged work; however, she got an understanding how hard it is to survive in America. With finding adequate lodging, food, and employment that any other lower class citizen, Barbara still couldn’t get ahead and feel comfortable financially. Also, she had some benefits throughout her investigation by having a car, which carries along a car payment, and money stashed away in case of an emergency. If that is not evident enough, Barbara even took time off between the jobs to recoup from the physical abuse that her body had encountered through her rigorous work schedule. After going through what Barbara had to endure she still couldn’t make it and she only had to worry about herself. If Barbara can’t make it on her own in addition to cutting corners, how can Americans survive in America on minimal wage with no corners to cut? They can’t.