Working poor

Working poor is a term applied to those who work yet remain in poverty. In direct opposition to the romantic ideal of Horatio Alger capitalism, often, the poor and disenfranchised work hard, sometimes even at semiskilled positions, but are unable to advance further into society. When all of one's wages go merely to subsistence, it is impossible to allow for the problems that appear in daily life. David Shipler notes that the working poor "may find jobs, but are forced to buy cars to get to them. When those cars break down, they skip payments on phone bills to pay for repairs. Late payments send credit ratings down, causing their interest rates to soar. The stress of financial pressure causes depression, which leads to missed work, to more missed payments, and so on". This Sisyphean struggle often leads to worse and worse situations for workers. Many of the working poor find themselves trained for certain sorts of labor (for example, due to welfare career training courses), but are forced to work in entirely different occupations due to circumstance.

External source

\n*David Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2004.