Nickel and Dimed

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“Somebody should research that.” (Ehrenreich, 2001). During the final course of her 30.00 lunch with Louis Lapham, editor of Harpers, Barbara Ehrenreich wondered how people could survive on minimum wage. She would soon be eating her words as Lapham pointed to her and said, “You”.

Reluctant at first to be the one doing the research, Ehrenreich finally capitulates and begins life as a minimum wage worker in America. The main idea of her experiment was to spend one month in each place and make enough to pay the second month’s rent (p.5-6). She wonders if she will find some special techniques that the poor use to get by. She finds that there are no secret economies, people just do the best they can with what they have available.

Ehrenreich gives herself some rules (p.5), such as, she will always have a car. She will never go hungry, will not use her education as an advantage, and will find the safest and most private housing that she can afford. These are parameters that the truly poor do not have and she freely admits that all of her rules were broken at some point. Ehrenreich also discovers that it is usually necessary for a single, minimum-wage worker to have two jobs in order to afford the barest minimum of housing.

At each location, Ehrenreich follows the same basic formula. She seeks housing and then begins the job search. The interviews are similar, generally conducted by someone with no formal in-terviewing skills. There is usually a psychological test of some sort and often a drug test, as well.

As for transportation, in Florida Ehrenreich uses her own car. In Maine and Minnesota, she rents. She eschewed taking the bus, as many low-wage workers do, because it would not be very inter-esting to read ab...

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...by writing a book about their misery. In this, her Marxist worldview is at odds with her capitalist behavior.

In this book, we get just a glimpse into some facets of the life of a low-wage worker. We never read of car repair issues or meet anyone who uses public transportation to get to work. We also never hear of childcare issues, often a major problem for single mothers. Overall, it was an in-teresting read. However, anyone can learn much of this same information and more by simply talking to the “invisible” people who serve us every day.

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Gorski, P. (2010/2011). The Myth of the Culture of Poverty. Annual Editions: Social Problems 10/11 , pp. 67-70.

Sachs, J. D. (2010/2011). Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated? Annual Editions: Social Problems 10/11 , pp. 71-75.