Surviving in the Low Wage World

By Ana Hernandez         
        We live in a society that we need money to have the basic necessities of life: 

food, water, medicine, and shelter. The United States has been in a depression before in the 1930s. and it took a long recovery. Revenue from businesses, banks, etc. have disappeared or a loss in value. The nation has been recovering from a “long-term” recession. In reality, we’ve been in a depression; however, we don’t like saying the word “depression” because it reminds of the economic suffering of the 1930s. 

                Society consists of a social pyramid that is divided into three classes. The top of the pyramid is the rich and the famous. There are the ones who pay little taxes in the nation, have a prestige education (i.e. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.) . The middle class are people who do have a decent education and jobs. They are responsible for paying taxes and voting on upcoming elections. Last but not least, the working poor. It consists of people who are living in poverty, barely making ends meet, and living in minimum wage. The majority of the work requires being strong and work long-hour shifts for low pay.

The working poor are people who live in poor neighborhoods who have little or no government help. In the state of the California, the minimum wage is $8.00; however, when you work for long-shifts, money is deducted away from your pay due to taxes. The total earned for an individual person who is working full-time for minimum wage is $320.00 a week. Less than $20,000 is earned per year. That’s barely enough money to cover for all the expenses for a college student attending a CSU per year. Depending on the person, some could qualify for welfare opportunities.

An average person has to work hard everyday to meet ends meet and have the basic necessities of surviving in American society. High school students work part-time at local restaurants, stores, etc. in order to save money for tuition. Students have to maintain more than two jobs because a family member might be sick or have a work-related injury. From a different perspective, you can see how hard and painful it is to work on minimum wage.

Nowadays, the economy is making housing more difficult to afford. If you live in California, it now depends on the city or neighborhood where you live in. The cheapest apartment to find are not furnished or it’s not required to pay for gas and water. Apartments in the San Fernando Valley are expensive and very small. For a one-bedroom apartment, it can range from $675 and up. If you're lucky, a roommate can share an apartment and split the rent 50/50.

Food has a factor to surviving the real world of minimum-wage person. A family of four spends approximately $100 on groceries that will last about a week, two weeks maximum. Food stamps is a government program that provides a certain amount of money into a card every month that will allow to buy food. (i.e. produce, dairy, meat) The price of food is on the rise, making everything difficult more than it is.

This is the harsh and cruel reality of poverty. There are opportunities out there that will guide you to a better success. Having a higher education will take you far. You just have to find the right doors and open it.

         

The Working Poor

by Hunter Tymich

As of today, the unemployment rate in California alone has reached a stunningly high rate of 10.9 percent.

In today’s economy, it is nearly impossible for many people just to find a job in order to support themselves and their family.  This is especially true with teenagers who are simply looking for a summer job just to make some extra cash. 

“I finally got a job after looking and applying for 3 months”, says high school senior Ariana Rahman.  “It’s very stressful to look for a job while trying to keep up in school at the same time.” 

However, there are many teenagers all throughout the country who are forced to get jobs in order to help support their family.  In California, the teenage unemployment rate currently stands at 34.4 percent for teens between the ages of 6 and 19.  Ethnicity also plays a large role in getting jobs.  Approximately 40.7 percent of all African Americans teenagers are currently unemployed as well.

Many people cannot find jobs at all in today’s economy.  In 2011, the U.S. jobless rate was at 8.9 percent, while the national unemployment rate reached 58.4 percent.  Many of these people have no way to support themselves, and often times turn to living on the streets.  However, many go to live with a family member or friends while they look or a job.  For example, in the book Nickel and Dimed, author Barbara Ehrenreich stays at a friend’s house that was out of town at the time. 

Statistics from 2003 showed an alarming amount of low-income households.  About 55 percent of all American households earned $50,000 or less each year.  Nearly 30 percent of them earned less than $25,000 a year.  When trying to support a family, wages like this make it very difficult to do.  When combined with the low unemployment rates, many people are currently suffering due to the economy.

As of today, the legal minimum wage in the state of California is $8 an hour.  This means that if someone were to work a full time job, they would make about $320 a week.  In Los Angeles (one of the most expensive cities to live in along with San Francisco and New York), the average price for a single bedroom apartment is around $1,200 a month.  This means that a person working full time would be able to afford an apartment in L.A. with only $80 left over each month.  These $80 would have to go to things such as food, gas, and other things such as prescriptions for illnesses one might suffer from.  This would be an impossible task for most. 

So many people are left homeless and hopeless due to the poor economy while the government just sits around and continues to collect money from the people who do not have it.  Former president Ronald Regan best describes the government’s plans: “If it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it.  And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”