The Working Poor Analysis

There are over six million ex-convicts in the United States. Research proposes that the best way for ex-cons to avoid prison again is to reintroduce them into the working world and find them jobs. However, most employers are hesitant to give them a chance. With the unemployment rate approaching its highest it makes keeping a job is challenging. When a person has been to prison, their chances of getting hired decrease drastically. Chapter five of David K. Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible in America, Shipler emphasizes attaining a job, maintaining a job, and living while employed to construct his arguments on the barriers and biases that the working poor have to overcome.

Perhaps the most problematic task for the working poor is attaining
They believe they are inadequate and are afraid of disappointment. One of the best ways Shipler constructed his arguments is that he gives detailed examples of separate circumstances of penuriousness. This works to give his book a more personal perspective. Shipler particularized not only on the story of these poverty-stricken people, but also their physical attributes. This gives the reader a depiction of how physical appearance plays a role in employability. Caroline worked rigorously to provide for her mentally challenged daughter, Amber, while struggling with health quandaries going from job to job. Caroline eventually lost her teeth from being unable to afford a dentist. Amber was nearly taken away from Caroline because of unreliable jobs. It is arduous for single mothers maintain a job while raising children. Many single mothers either stay home from work or go to work late, to care for her children. In this case, employers conveniently fire the employee because the position is expendable. Shipler states, "Employers rarely see those corrosive suspicions of worthlessness that course beneath the surface. They see the surface behavior: the employee who shows up late or not at all, who lacks a 'work ethic' and the 'soft skills' of punctuality, diligence, and a can-do attitude... The soft skills should have been taught in the family, but in many cases, the family has
When not supporting a family, there is more money to spend on luxury possessions, such as cable, computers and possibly the latest cell phones. Shipler expounds that there is not only an upside, but also a downside to the quality of life for the working poor. The upside of having a job with a stable salary is the opportunity to get a promotion, and the benefits. Nevertheless, if something transpired, such as the company had to downsize you can suddenly be out of a job. Shipler efficaciously constructs the argument that living while employed also has negative impacts. Tim Unsworth, author of Poverty in America mentions, "No one needs the government more than the poor. However, they get much less of it than the wealthy, largely because they simply don't know how to fight back" (Unsworth). Unsworth expresses how the poor cannot be the only ones putting forth an effort. The government needs to be able to provide more benefits for the working poor. Living with a job and being poor comes with a plethora of stress, stress that is agonizing to deal with. Every day people overcome the adversities of being in poverty while employed, these people face quandaries day in and day out struggling to