Nickel and Dimed

nickled and dimed book cover

The Fall 2005 book, Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a true story about trying to make a living on low wages and what the author learns from the experience. The book recounts the author's experiment of seeing if she could "match income to expenses" on low wages. Ehrenreich tells of her efforts to find work and the day-to-day activities of her work in three cities in three different states. Her goal was to spend a month working in each city to see if she could find a job and earn enough to pay a second month's rent. She learns a lot along the way about challenging work hours, such as split shifts; and job requirements, such as personality tests, drug tests, and uniforms. She describes how co-workers, supervisors, and customers treat her and her co-workers. Ehrenreich supplements her story with references to data on wages, poverty levels and housing from a variety of government sources. The story is engaging, as is the author's evaluation of her experience.

This book is rich with topics for reflection, analysis and discussion. Can a person with a doctorate degree and some wealth truly experience what it means to be poor? The author admits that, unlike her co-workers, she had health insurance, a home, and a bank account to fall back on. Was the author's approach--taking low wage, unskilled jobs for three months--the best way to tell the story of the working poor in the U.S.? What other approaches are possible? Several footnotes in the book provde data about poverty, but they are from 2001 and earlier. What is the current data and where can that data be found? What can be done to improve the working conditions of workers in low wage jobs? How can there be a better match of wages to the cost of housing, transportation, health care and food? What can be done to improve that match and who should be involved? What might the author's experience have been in Silicon Valley, where the cost-of-living is very high?  

More Information

A short biography of the author from the NY Times.

A list of related publication appears below. Click on the links to learn more.

Ways to Help People Who Are Having Financial Struggles

There are a variety of organizations, such as the YWCA and Career Closet, that help people who are having financial hardships. You may want to contact one of them to see what types of volunteer and donation opportunities are available. There are also opportunities to help through 菠菜网lol正规平台's Center for Service Learning.

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