Nickel and Dime Argumentative Essay
Ehrenreich’s book explains and describes the condition of the working poor in the
United States. To write this book the author who is a well-known journalist at the New York
Times decides to experience being a low-wage worker for a few months. She gives up her middle class life to become and live as a working poor. This was not to be a social experiment that was to recreate a poverty social scenario, but it was , in fact, to see if she could maintain a lifestyle working low wage paying jobs the way 4 million women were about to experience it. As an individual coming out of wealthy life, I think that it would be very hard for her to prove her point. I believe what Ehrenreich is trying to prove is that those certain workers wages should be raised and companies are able to do it. First off, employees that work these low-wage jobs donate all of their time, energy, and personal life to these jobs that consume all of their energy. “In every job, in every place I lived, the work absorbed all of my energy and much of my intellect.” (Ehrenreich p 9).This quote illustrates how difficult low-wage work really is and that it shouldn’t be looked down upon.
Secondly, the money that they do earn is barely enough to support one person, imagine trying to support a whole family on $7.25 an hour… Not going to happen! Now a days, necessities in life cost entirely too much for these low-wage workers to afford, and everybody has to spend money on themselves some time or another but their extra money is either going to doctor appointments or anything else unexpected life throws at you. What about benefits? Oh yeah, these workers don’t get any benefits at all. That is why having Welfare reforms can really be useful to these workers and also can provide more jobs. However, many people who are on welfare have become so used to it, and instead of using
United States. To write this book the author who is a well-known journalist at the New York
Times decides to experience being a low-wage worker for a few months. She gives up her middle class life to become and live as a working poor. This was not to be a social experiment that was to recreate a poverty social scenario, but it was , in fact, to see if she could maintain a lifestyle working low wage paying jobs the way 4 million women were about to experience it. As an individual coming out of wealthy life, I think that it would be very hard for her to prove her point. I believe what Ehrenreich is trying to prove is that those certain workers wages should be raised and companies are able to do it. First off, employees that work these low-wage jobs donate all of their time, energy, and personal life to these jobs that consume all of their energy. “In every job, in every place I lived, the work absorbed all of my energy and much of my intellect.” (Ehrenreich p 9).This quote illustrates how difficult low-wage work really is and that it shouldn’t be looked down upon.
Secondly, the money that they do earn is barely enough to support one person, imagine trying to support a whole family on $7.25 an hour… Not going to happen! Now a days, necessities in life cost entirely too much for these low-wage workers to afford, and everybody has to spend money on themselves some time or another but their extra money is either going to doctor appointments or anything else unexpected life throws at you. What about benefits? Oh yeah, these workers don’t get any benefits at all. That is why having Welfare reforms can really be useful to these workers and also can provide more jobs. However, many people who are on welfare have become so used to it, and instead of using