April 09, 2010
Nickel and Dimed
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich describes the author's quest to understand the lives of working class people. She left behind her middle class life as a journalist except for $1000 in start-up funds, a car, and her laptop computer to try to sustain herself as a low-skilled worker for a month at a time. Despite the advantages of her race, education, good health, and lack of children, Ehrenreich's income barely covered her month's expenses in only one instance, when she worked seven days a week at two jobs (one of which provided free meals) during the off-season in a vacation town.
Posted by vardigan at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2008
Don't Count on the FEDS
There was a disturbing article in yesterday's NY Times about the shoddy job the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department has done in investigating overtime and minimum-wage complaints:
Department is Criticized on Disputes Over Wages
Steven Greenhouse | NY Times
July 15, 2008
It doesn't look like one would want to count on the federal government to enforce statutes. And, just imagine how few low wage workers actually submit their problem to the Labor Department.
Posted by lisan at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2008
Further reading following Nickel and Dimed discussion
PSC Library has the following book edited by ISR researchers.
Working and Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes Are Affecting Low-Wage Workers
In Working and Poor, a distinguished group of economists and policy experts, headlined by editors Rebecca Blank, Sheldon Danziger, and Robert Schoeni, examine how economic and policy changes over the last twenty-five years have affected the well-being of low-wage workers and their families.
Posted by yanfu at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)