Poor, homeless and low wage workers in the society are subject to systematic injustices that are mainly out of their control. First, many educated people sometimes face it difficult to secure a job to earn them a better living. Instead, they end up getting low wage jobs where they raise a little to earn their living thus stagnating in poverty. Economic conditions are the worst cause of such conditions commonly referred to as unemployment.
Nevertheless, harsh working conditions are another main cause of poor and homelessness. Some employers are very harsh and they usually put a lot of pressure to their employees forcing them to quit their jobs and discouraging others from joining their employment. Some even fail to provide food and other social amenities to their employees something that force employees to look for other jobs. As a result, these employees feel it’s better to leave the job and look for better conditions elsewhere. Ideally, this affects their living standards forcing them to become poor and homeless. For instance, from the set piece read, waiters have no authority to eat during job time.
Furthermore, inadequate resources within a country to support housing may lead to homelessness. Some areas of the U.S. are clustered leaving no space for future development of new homesteads. Following the increased population, a need for the development of more houses arises and due to lack of land for construction then it becomes impossible. As a result, many people become homeless with time. In addition, money resource is also scarce thus inadequate something that forces the government to cut down costs thus unable to construct more houses.
Moreover, Racism is another main cause of poor, homelessness and low-wage jobs in the United States of America. In the U.S., there is a high degree of racism that results to the above-mentioned issues. Racism is not a personal responsiveness for his or her failure to earn job hence high standards of living. Ideally, racial segregation creates the gap between the whites and the blacks in the United States of America. According to racial provisions, in the United States, the whites should enjoy the collar jobs where else the blacks should concentrate on the manual work occupations. Ideally, this implies that the whites are the high wage earners and the blacks are the low wage earners. Following the low income earning levels, this people end up being poor and homeless (Smith 264).
On the other hand, the poor, homeless and low wage workers in the society are also responsible for their situation. In some cases, some workers feel that they cannot apply for a low paying job simply because they have good education without looking at the economic conditions of their country. Nevertheless, others decline jobs due to pride failing to consider that they are unskilled. For instance, according to Nickel & Dimed (64) chapter one, Ehrenreich rules out some occupations during her job search claiming that she cannot work in them. Some of these occupations include waitressing and hotel front-desk clerk. She fails to consider the level of education and the conditions of the economy.
Furthermore, poor and homelessness are also subject to health of a person. Sickness may render and employee poor and homeless within few months. Ideally, sickness impairs the working of an employee and if it extends, it increases the cost of living. Ideally, this is because one has to pay more for health services. In addition, if the sickness is not curable, it may force the employee to leave his or her job. As a result, such an employee ends up being poor and homeless.
At first, her decision is to work as a low-wage worker but goes ahead to dispute some of the occupations without questioning their earning per hour with the little they earn within their periphery no matter how little. Ideally, this is to mean that they fail to go outside their community to look for better paying jobs in other parts of the world. As a result, this narrows their way of thinking thus reaching a comfortable zone whereby they are okay with the little they earn. An outstanding example from the chapter is the Ehrenreich unwillingness to work outside Florida where she used to live.
Finally, some other workers fail to meet job requirements and adhere to code of ethics resulting to lose of job. Many well-paying jobs call for experience and quality education. Many low wage workers do not meet this qualifications and thus they do not meet job requirements. Once this happens, such workers become incapable of meeting their daily bread and more so housing in the U.S. where it is very expensive thus becoming poor. For instance, according to the chapter read, Stu breaks the code of conduct following his involvement in drug trafficking using the restraint’s phone.
In conclusion, I stand with an opinion that, the poor, homeless and the low waged people in the U.S. are not responsible for their status. Although some points support the motion, the opposing points are more than those supporting the debate.
Work Cited
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001. Print.
Smith, Peter. Advanced economics. Deddington: Philip Allan Updates, 2006. Print.
