THE WORKING POOR: ARE THEY INVISIBLE IN AMERICA?

The working poor: Are they invisible in America?

Sherrymae D. Morales

MMPA 6910: Capstone Seminar

Dr. Carla Riemersma

August 22, 2010

The working poor: Are they invisible in America?

Introduction

The working poor, or “low wage worker” has become a large segment of our population as more and more Americans have witnessed a dramatic erosion of their living wage over the last thirty years than ever before. Men are earning 25 percent less than their 1973 equivalents; for women, they are earning 13 percent less than their 1973 equivalents.

In 1960, Michael Harrington published a book that stirred the conscience of a nation; The Other America. The Other America reminded a country basking in the glow of postwar prosperity, that poverty was alive and well in its midst. Harrington revealed those invisible millions living in passed-over regions of the country and the economy; in the Appalachia, the South, and rural America.

This segment of our society is now classified as the working poor. The rising and falling of the nation's economy have not had much impact on these people. They suffer in good times and in bad. They are living below the poverty line; very simply: for a family with one adult and three children, earning less than $19,233.00 in 2004. That works out to $9.24 an hour; far less than the amount needed for a decent living. Have they again become “invisible” in America? The focus of this Capstone Project will be on the “working poor” and on the answer to this question.

I will illustrate through my primary action research and action research study who these workers really are and that they, “the working poor”, are truly once again invisible in America. Additionally, I will propose recommendations that, if implemented, will effect positive social change.

Before I begin however, it is important to point out that the use of the word “poor” is not used as a statistician would use it. It is imprecisely used to suggest the lowest stratum of economic attainment with all of its accompanying problems; less formal education, poor housing and poor neighborhoods, increased crime, lack of health insurance, an inability to afford healthy foods, hopelessness, helplessness and haplessness.

Research

1. Brian Grow and Keith Epstein, The Poverty Business: Inside U.S. Companies' audacious to extract more profits from the nation's working poor. Bloomberg Businessweek, May 21, 2007.

No discussion of the working poor is adequate without a brief discussion of their employers who profit from cheap labor and who struggle to keep their businesses alive. The employer that avoids hiring full time employees to avoid paying benefits; who run “sweat shops” to increase their margin of profit; who provide poor working conditions to employees that they classify as “a dime a dozen”. Then there are employers who are just predators; they hire the undocumented immigrant for a period of time owing excess wages, and then lay them off.

The working poor are unprotected from both types of employer; the credible and the unscrupulous.

Background

Referring to a diverse ...