Summary In Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible In America

In America, illegal immigrants are bounded by the dreams of reaching the top of the ladder of luxury, but reality comes in and kicks them down to the ground of poverty. In Shipler’s book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, he addresses the fact that illegal immigrants are not receiving the equality that they deserve, but they are being treated as slaves only to enter the country to work harder than most Americans and be paid half as much. Illegal immigrants should be paid equally for their work, and they should be given rights equal to that of other Americans. In general, illegal immigrants come in America for the search of opportunity; illegal immigrants want to abandon their hard life that they leave behind in their original country.

The wages are very low compared to Americans doing similar work, even if they work the hardest out of all the employees of the business. Shipler in his book talks about a young woman named Candalaria, who works for a sewing company and receives payments by sewing jeans and makes only 5 cents for each fly she sews on the jeans. But, since she is an illegal immigrant she barely receives the minimum wage for her work. According to Shipler, “To make California’s minimum wage, which was $5.75 at the time, that added up to 767 flies an hour, allowing her just under 5 seconds for each fly” (Shipler). The work, Candalaria has to do, is twice as much work as any other worker does; in order for her to live on a low-budget. Giving workers less money for a lot of work may seem like a dream for the boss of the company, but it could be the polar opposite thought. Shipler states “Paying so little may seem like a boon for a boss, but he isn’t always delighted” (Shipler). Shipler points out that people who run the company and notice a person that does a lot of hard work; only to be paid in such low amounts of money can be upsetting to witness. But, as of late, California has been taking a better shape for illegal immigrants that come into the country looking for a better life. According to Greenblatt, “California was the most active state last year,

In this present time people seem to forget what the real problems are. The ideas, Shipler is trying to get across to his readers are very serious, and still are major problems to this present day. The staggering hopelessness of illegal immigrants, who come into America and try to make a living, in the hope of gaining some achievements that they couldn’t receive in their original country, are having more problems now, than