Analysis Of The Working Poor By David K. Shipler

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In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler describes about the lives of United States citizens who live within poverty. He highlights the U.S.’s disregard for its working poor, the nature of poverty, and the causes of poverty faced by low-wage earners. Shipler performs an amazing job with describing the factors that play their parts into the lives of U.S. citizens who live are poor and within poverty.
Shipler explains the effects of tax payments and refunds, the abuse of the poor by private and public institutions, the spending habits of the working poor, the culture of the U.S., and the presence of money as a factor in the lives of the working poor. In dealing with government bureaucracy or private business, the working poor are vulnerable to the abuse of con-artists, employers, financial service providers, and public service providers. Financial service providers can misguide or misinform their clients about their services or rights. For example,
Job training programs that teach soft skills as well as hard skills and are successful in instilling confidence and self-esteem are appreciated by employers. Working seems to instill in former drug addicts or welfare recipients a sense of competence, pride, and hope for the future. Shipler states that “work works” when other factors and circumstances, a family with multiple wage earners, a sense of competition, job-finding skills, money management skills, and persistence, fall into place. Drug or alcohol abuse, domestic violence, poor schooling, illness, or injury can seriously destroy the chance for upward social mobility. Kathy A. Zawicki believes that “those who Shipler identifies as desperately poor, lacking necessary medical care, and struggling to meet basic daily living expenses are those who are not only working, but, in many cases, working the equivalent of full-time jobs.”

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