Summary Of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed

In the book Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover into the world of minimum wage employees to research how difficult it is to live off of their salary. She splits up the book into three sections where she tackles these jobs in diverse areas to be able to compare her data. In each section Ehrenreich plows through several jobs, sometimes struggling to afford housing and food. She takes these first-hand experiences and compiles them into a book that gives readers an insight to the world of minimum wage workers. Ehrenreich begins her journey by taking time to prepare for the hardships she may face along the way.

In Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich uses precise language to paint a picture of Holly, an underprivileged woman working at The Maids. While working at The Maids, Ehrenreich provides the audience with numerous descriptions and characteristics of Holly. First off, Holly is a twenty-three year old who feeds not only herself, but also her husband and an elderly relative; astonishingly, she manages to do so with a salary of thirty to fifty dollars per week. Specifically, Ehrenreich writes, “She is visibly unwell-possibly whiter, on a daily basis than anyone else in the state… think bridal gowns, tuberculosis, and death” (Ehrenreich 95). Furthermore, the author describes Holly’s meager eating habits by asserting,

First off, the majority of the female employees were in their late teens/early 20’s, while the patrons were mostly above the age of 30. Secondly, the backgrounds of the employees were rather diverse being pretty evenly split between single and taken (with some cohabitation), and varying levels of educational achievement, with a large portion seeking higher education. A common trope amongst the employee interviews that Price-Glynn collected was that she often heard “its work, it’s a job” and many references to the “sometimes lucrative earnings.” These statements and the conclusions drawn from the data show that the women working here saw their jobs as an effective way of achieving a larger

The solution to the minimum-wage problem that haunts American workers in the 21st century is to strive for lower everyday expenses rather than for a higher minimum wage. The renowned author Barbara Ehrenreich, in her informational novel Nickel and Dimed, tells the story of how she performed a social experiment by working several minimum wage jobs, while living a lifestyle of a low-wage worker. In her novel, Ehrenreich concludes that minimum wage workers “in good health” can “barely support [themselves]” (199). Even though Ehrenreich earned “$1039 in one month,” at the end of the month she only had “$22 left over” as she had to spend “$517” on food and gas, and “$500” to pay her rent (197). As evident, Ehrenreich’s wage is not the cause of her

The women would had experienced anything from sexual harassment, rubbed up against or felt on, to being locked into a room until they had finished their shift . Often the bosses would refer to the young preteen or teenage girls as the “working girls” . The working conditions of the women and young children could only be described as slave conditions, one worker described her experience while working for the Triangle Waist Company, “[w]e were like slaves,’ complained one women. ‘You couldn’t pick your head up. You couldn’t talk.

It 's good money for women 's work. HENRIETTA. It 's volunteering. PETER. What are you asking for Miss Leavitt?

According to Jake Rosenfield, organized labor had already begun its decades-long decline. During the 1970’s and the 1980’s unionization rates nearly halved and this was especially brutal for organized labor. It was then that economic conditions had begun to change. Then organized labor had begun to disappearing in the sector where it has had the greatest impact on people’s livelihoods. Even before the 1980’s, Jiwook Jung explains that corporate America had experienced waves of downsizing.

But when you hear a story like the one told by a lady who Barbara met named Caroline, who is a lady who had two kids to take care of while working at a low paying job like Barbara was, you realize that they have a hard road ahead of them. Not having enough money led Caroline to have bad anxiety and led to the onset of diabetes and she was commonly homeless. Her children stayed at a local church a lot of the time. Stories like Caroline’s really open my eyes and make me feel think that there should be more programs to help out people with low incomes. I now realize the types of housing that can be afforded by these blue collar workers is usually not very nice at all.

Immigrant workers were limited of their freedom and constantly exploited due to the fact that they were working in hazardous working conditions, were living in deplorable conditions, and were being harassed under the intimidating power of corrupt politicians. Such miseries the immigrants had to face included the hazardous working conditions where they had to stay for long hours. There was no doubt that workers had either die or were injured as they worked in such environment. In Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, the dangers of working conditions are emphasized through Jurgis’ incident at the meatpacking plant.

The late 19th century is commonly referred to as the “Gilded Age”. A time of luxury and success, for some at least. For others, this was a time of struggle, hard work, and new beginnings. Child-workers are one group that did not experience the so-called “luxury” of this epoch. Our story begins with a poor child-worker named Arabella, or Bella.

The law on minimum wage has become very consequential and has came to light to employees whom are required to work the current wage. The state of Texas has had the same minimum wage since 2009 which it is currently $7.25. It has been numerous complaints throughout the state about the minimum wage in Texas. Employees main concern is that they are simply getting underpaid for their work. Compared to other states the minimum wage Texas seems to have fallen very far behind.

Thesis: I believe that Ehrenreich’s thesis is that no matter how hard you work or how chipper you act, it is nearly impossible to make a living for oneself in minimum wage conditions such as those of her coworkers. Narration: Narration is present on page 765 where through the narrator we are told Gail’s story about how her husband died and her what has led up to her current situation. Report: Paragraph 2 is an example of report writing where she details the types of housing in the area and the possible houses she can afford because she is being illustrative and informational about the topic of real estate in Key West. Analysis: The section on pages 771-772 is an analysis because she is breaking down the housing situations of her coworkers based upon her prediction of their salaries.

No Nickels or Dimes To Spare In the book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich writes the story, “Serving in Florida.” She describes her experience living as an undercover waitress when in reality she’s a journalist for culture and politics with a doctorate in biology. Ehrenreich experiences trying to survive on multiple low income jobs to understand what it is like to be in their shoes instead of being apart of the higher middle class.

In Monroe County, Florida, where Key West resides, the living wage is considered to be $13.10; in Portland, Maine, the living wage is $11.16, and in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it is $11.01. The highest wage that Barbara was ever offered was $10.00 an hour as a plumber while everywhere else she made either minimum wage or lower with tips. She was barely able to scrape by, and based off the livin wage estimates, would have been lucky if she could have afforded an apartment during her stay in any of the cities in which she had attempted to reside. Whether her wages were simply lower because of her gender was not established, but even if she were making these wages as a male, she would more than likely have to room with someone in order to afford an apartment, something that she said she would not do at the outset of the case study. However, Shepard, should have been able to survive in Charleston if he could maintain a decent tip after all of his moving appointments.

Everyday, people struggle to survive financially just like Robert Howard, a police officer in New Jersey, who gets paid only $10.50 an hour, which is only two dollars above the minimum wage in New Jersey. Howard works for the Hillside Police Department. He lives with his pregnant wife and their two year old son. He also lives with his 15 year old brother. Howard like many other police officers is struggling to survive with his current wage.