The Working Poor Essay Example

It’s difficult to imagine how some people hold multiple jobs to support themselves or their families and still struggle on day to day basis. The saying the rich get’s richer and poor gets poorer has never been so evident in today’s society. Let’s begin by explaining what poor is? According to (Encarta English Dictionary 2006) poor is explained as someone “lacking money, material possessions, unemployed and insecure”. Poor is also divided into two distinctive groups, the deserving and the undeserving poor (Levine & Rizvi, 2005, p.38). “The deserving poor are poor through no fault of their own but as a result of a disability, loss of employment, and economical change”. “The undeserving poor are poor because of their own interpersonal skills, self confidence, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and damaged character”. There has also been talk of a new occurrence of the “working poor” in Australia. Perspectives on Poverty: NCOSS 2007 Conference LHMU defines the working poor as “earnings less than $500 a week”. Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that in “1995 the working poor represented just 10% of workers over 21 years of age. In 2003 this had doubled to 20% and indicates that it has likely grown since” (ABS, 2003, as cited in Perspectives on poverty conference, 2007)
With a growing percentage of people measured the “working poor” one has to question the government policies enacted to elevate the living standards for its people. Government policies greatly influence the everyday life of its people. Strategic plans should be sought out to ensure that the poor are not disadvantaged or discriminated in the society. Labelling the poor in need by deciding and being selective in who deserves what rather they should focus on finding solutions to ever growing problems of the poor.
How can the poor regain control over their finances, have confidence, clear mental state, self esteem and have faith in this society?
Discussion of this paper will focus on how poor people would