Nickel And Dimed: Book Report

After reading Nickel and Dimed and reviewing the NASW Code of Ethics I found a few parts of the code of ethics Ehrenreich did not follow. I believe she was in breach of privacy and confidentiality, dishonesty, fraud, and deception, and integrity.

In the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich a nonfiction she confronts the problem that the lower class is struggling to get by on the minimum wage offered.She also discusses the difficulties that the lower classes face for example overbearing and strict bosses,having problems with transportation to get to work, barely making rent,nearly no breaks, and having working two jobs back to back in order to provide for their families. She goes undercover as a worker in order to see what it would be like and she found out that the menial labor often overcame her and she would dream of her old life.

Throughout chapter 2, it references back to the life of the three hard working women who hold minimum wage jobs; the women make between $6 and $7 per hour and attempt to make a living with help from the government through Medicaid, welfare checks, and food stamps. The issue with this is

Barbara Ehrenreich's intent in the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America exhibited how minimum wage isn't enough for Americans to get by on and that there's no hope for the lower class. Her main objective was achieved by living out the life of the "working poor". During the three cases studies she worked many jobs that are worked by many that are simply striving to live day to day. The jobs she had didn't generate sufficient income to avoid or help her rise out of poverty, in fact the six to seven dollar jobs made survival considerably difficult. Enitially, she believe the jobs didn't require any skill but while on her journey she started to realize they were stressful and drained a lot of energy. In addition to that she

Barbara Ehrenreich used her book Nickel and Dimed to illustrate her job assignment to live in the shoes of and, write about her experiences as a minimum wage worker in America. Ehrenreich goes to live in Key West, Maine, and Minnesota and works low wage jobs, sometimes more than one at a time. The point Ehrenreich is trying to make is that it is almost impossible to live a decent life in America with one, let alone two jobs paying very low wages. It is tough to be a low wage worker in America.

A journalist who has Ph.D in biology wanted to know how people could live with just seven dollars per hour. In Nickel and Dimed, the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, introduces how people live with low-wage jobs. She told that employers sometime see their employees as potential criminal, their employees' work environments do not suit for their works, and the employees's wages does not satisfy what they need to survive.

McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and cleaning services: all of these have one thing in common-they are all minimum wage jobs. Their pay is low and work load high, and because of this living as a low wageworker is never easy. One must handle many hardships in order to make a few meager dollars, with which most cannot sufficiently live. 'The 'living wage' in the United States is between $9-10.18; sounds great to a college student, but in the real world this kind of money just isn't going to cut it,' (Ramisch). Minimum wage standards for American workers rest at $5.15 per hour, and in such slighted fields, very few make much more than that, perhaps $6-7, but even that is a rarity. The material life of a low-income employee includes bare necessities

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Is about a woman, a journalist who goes undercover to witness the Welfare Program the government provides for the poor and people in need. Ehrenreich is white and middle class. She claims that her experience would have been radically different had she been a person of color or a single parent. Ehrenreich had not much to worry about other than finding a job and a somewhat comfortable living space. If she had not been white , her experience would have been drastically different in my opinion. With little money, during this time period things were still not too expensive but not too affordable for some people.

The novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich exploits the struggle of getting by with a minimum waged job in America. Throughout the novel Barbara Ehrenreich’s main argument is how the difficulty of living life paycheck-to-paycheck is unreasonable because of the poor conditions the employees must work in. The difficulty with a minimum wage job entails a high cost of living, poor working conditions, and work related injuries. Each of these obstacles makes the job harder.

The main idea of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich demonstrates the complications and the way on how minimum wage workers survived during 1996 in Florida, Maine, and in Minnesota when the welfare reform had an impact on minimum wage. Her goal was to experience how to settle for rent, food, and bills while working in minimum salary. The idea of this project came in mind when she discussed with Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper’s, about future articles in magazines and then asked “How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled? How, in particular, we wondered, were the roughly four million women about to be booted into the labor market by welfare reform going to

The typical minimum wage employee working year round would make an annual average income of $15,000. Now some people may seem that decent or low but when adding daily living expenses its barley enough to provide for a family too. Bearing in mind this individual is working 40 hours a week earning $7.25 an hour, they’d be making less than $265.00 a week after taxes. Earning $265/week, one brings home nearly $1060/month. Within one month take in to consideration of the general

No one denies living on less than $2/day as a single person is a struggle. Add to that the responsibility of children and potentially, extended family. This is the story of all too many people in the bottom 10% (and more) in the United States. Because such individuals receive the short-end of the stick, they feel compelled to trade in their SNAP benefits for cash, which are not that beneficial, regardless, because of the 2:1 payoff. In this novel, all of the individuals are portrayed as those who experience an unfair struggle which continues to perpetuate their emotional and financial misery. Don’t get me wrong, I sympathize with their plight, but I do know of, and have seen, in previous employment, many individuals who have capitalized on

Can someone really live and prosper in American receiving minimal income? Can someone create a good lifestyle for themselves on just six to seven dollars an hour? In Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to find out if it is indeed possible. Giving herself only $1,000 she leaves the lifestyle that she has come accustomed too and goes to join all the people living the low class way of life.

Even though this article was written quite a while ago in media terms, it still speaks of the ongoing problem that is people living off minimum wage. Families should not have to resort to protesting on the streets to earn more money, whether it’s in the 1930’s or 2000’s. It should be a principle that if one works hard enough, no matter where they’re from, they will be able to support themselves. Not this twisted version of reality where you need to be of certain race, gender or background in order to earn a substantial wage. In The Grapes of Wrath it’s the “Okies” that are treated unfairly and paid poorly and in today’s world it is women and African Americans and minority groups that are paid and treated much less than they deserve to

less than they need to live on" ( 270.) A good percent of high school graduates move right on to college. They graduate college and then they usually move on to make a good amount of money to live a satisfying life. However, college is not made for everyone, and what would our world be with only professionals? I agree with Ehrenreich that the minimum wage is too low because, while people with open opportunities earn a better future for their families, many like my own, are fighting to get through on a daily basis due to our economy.