Today, the academic debate about the supposedly dire effects of wage increases is moot. Twenty-nine states have raised their minimum wages above the federal level and over one hundred cities have passed living wage ordinances, some of them extending to all local workers, and none of these places have fallen into economic ruin. Santa Fe, for example, with a hard-won minimum wage of $9.50 an hour, has been generating more jobs than nearby Albuquerque. In Idaho, which has not raised its state minimum wage, business owners have been forced to raise their wages or see their workers leave for better-paying jobs in Washington, which has a state minimum wage of $8 an hour. In July 2007, the federal government finally followed the lead of the states. Congress passed, and the president signed, legislation raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour, slated to hit $7.25 in 2009. In an era of few gains and many losses for working people, this was not only a victory but a resounding triumph.
But of course these gains are nowhere near enough. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition reported that in 2006 a worker had to earn $16.31 an hour to afford a two-bedroom housing unit at market rents, and this figure can be taken as a rough estimate of what a true nationwide living wage might be. The supply of affordable housing is shrinking; there is a critical shortage of licensed child care facilities; 47 million Americans lack health insurance, usually because their jobs do not provide it. Living wage activists will keep fighting for wage increases, at the same realizing that no foreseeable gains are likely to compensate for the glaring gaps in our nation’s social infrastructure. Housing, transportation, health care, and child care—these will all require decisive action from the public sector and a vigorous social movement to make that happen.
The question I most like to hear from readers of Nickel and Dimed is, “What can I do? How can I get involved?” Usually there’s some sort of answer near at hand: almost every community has a living wage campaign or an affordable-housing group, not to mention homeless shelters and food pantries, all in need of volunteer energy. At every level of government, there are candidates and legislative proposals worthy of support. You can join a statewide group like the Virginia Organizing Project, which works on a number of issues affecting the working poor, or a national organization like ACORN, Jobs with Justice, or Working America. You can pressure your church, your employer, or your school to provide services and opportunities for the poor. If you’re a businessperson, you can set a good example by your treatment of your own employees and join with other community leaders to work for change.
But there is no quick fix here—no one measure or piece of legislation that will set things right and retire the “working poor” to the status of an oxymoron. Ours is an economic culture that reflexively rewards and flatters the prosperous while punishing and insulting the poor, no matter how hard they work. Turning this around is the task of a lifetime, at least.
1 Paul Krugman, “War against Wages,” New York Times, October 6, 2006.
2 Mary Williams Walsh, “I.R.S. Tightening Rules for Low-Income Tax Credit,” New York Times, April 25, 2003.
3 Neil Irwin, “State of the Household,” Washington Post, December 16, 2007.
4 John Gertner, “What Is a Living Wage?” New York Times Magazine, January 15, 2006, p. 38.
acknowledgments
With thanks for all kinds of help to Michael Berman, Sara Bershtel, Chauna Brocht, Kristine Dahl, Tom Engelhardt, Frank Herd and Sarah Bourassa, Kristine Jacobs, Clara Jeffrey, Deb Konechne, Marc Linder, John Newton, Frances Fox Piven, Peter Rachleff, Bill Sokal, David Wagner, Jennifer Wheeler, and Patti.
about the author
Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of fourteen books, including This Land Is Their Land and the New York Times bestseller Bait and Switch and Fear of Falling. A frequent contributor to Harper’s and The Nation, she has been a columnist at the New York Times and Time magazine.
a reader’s guide
No matter which tax bracket you’re in, you have a stake in the issues raised by Barbara Ehrenreich. A book that has changed assumptions about American prosperity and hardship, Nickel and Dimed makes an especially compelling selection for reading groups. The questions that follow are designed to enhance your personal understanding or group discussion of this provocative, heartfelt—and funny—account of life in the low-wage trenches.
questions for discussion
In the wake of recent welfare reform measures, millions of women entering the workforce can expect to face struggles like the ones Ehrenreich confronted in Nickel and Dimed. Have you ever been homeless, unemployed, without health insurance, or held down two jobs? What is the lowest-paying job you ever held and what kind of help—if any—did you need to improve your situation?
Were your perceptions of blue-collar Americans transformed or reinforced by Nickel and Dimed? Have your notions of poverty and prosperity changed since reading the book? What about your own treatment of waiters, maids, and sales-people?
How do booming national and international chains—restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, cleaning services, and elder-care facilities—affect the treatment and aspirations of low-wage workers? Consider how market competition and the push for profits drive the nickel-and-diming of America’s lowest-paid.
Housing costs pose the greatest obstacle for low-wage workers. Why does our society seem to resist rectifying this situation? Do you believe that there are realistic solutions to the lack of affordable housing?
While working for The Maids, Ehrenreich hears Ted claim that he’s “not a bad guy . . . and cares a lot about his girls.” How do the assumptions of supervisors such as Ted affect their employees? How does Ted compare to Ehrenreich’s other bosses? To yours?
Ehrenreich is white and middle class. She asserts that her experience would have been radically different had she been a person of color or a single parent. Do you think discrimination shaped Ehrenreich’s story? In what ways?
Ehrenreich found that she could not survive on $7.00 per hour—not if she wanted to live indoors. Consider how her experiment would have played out in your community: limiting yourself to $7.00 per hour earnings, create a hypothetical monthly budget for your part of the country.
Ehrenreich experienced remarkable goodwill, generosity, and solidarity among her colleagues. Does this surprise you? How do you think your own colleagues measure up?
Why do you think low-wage workers are reluctant to form labor organizations as Ehrenreich discovered at Wal-Mart? How do you think employees should lobby to improve working conditions?
Many campus and advocacy groups are currently involved in struggles for a “living wage.” How do you think a living wage should be calculated?
Were you surprised by the casual reactions of Ehrenreich’s coworkers when she revealed herself as an undercover writer? Were you surprised that she wasn’t suspected of being “different” or out-of-place despite her graduate-level education and usually comfortable lifestyle?
How does managers’ scrutiny—“time theft” crackdowns and drug testing—affect workers’ morale? How can American companies make the workplace environment safe and efficient without treating employees like suspected criminals?
Ehrenreich concluded that had her working life been spent in a Wal-Mart–like environment, she would have emerged a different person—meaner, pettier, “Barb” instead of “Barbara.” How would your personality change if you were placed in working conditions very different from the ones you are in now?
The workers in Nickel and Dimed receive almost no benefits—no overtime pay, no retirement funds, and no health insurance. Is this fair? Do you think an increase in salary would redress the lack of benefits, or is this a completely separate problem?
Many of Ehrenreich’s colleagues relied heavily on family—for housing and help with child-care, by sharing appliances and dividing up the cooking, shopping, and cleaning. Do you think Americans make excessive demands on the family unit rather than calling for the government to help those in need?
Nickel a
nd Dimed takes place in 1998–2000, a time of unprecedented prosperity in America. Do you think Ehrenreich’s experience would be different in today’s economy? How so?
After reading Nickel and Dimed, do you think that having a job—any job—is better than no job at all? Did this book make you feel angry? Better informed? Relieved that someone has finally described your experience? Galvanized to do something?
Nickel and Dimed Page 23