Working but Poor: Perspectives from a Rural, African American Family

Abstract

IntroductionWhile much attention has been focused on moving families beyond welfare, little attention has been given to the destination of many of those families. Research indicates that far from achieving self sufficiency, many join the ranks of the working poor. This group has been an omnipresent but invisible part of the American workforce. This lack of visibility has been based on the assumption that working poverty was a temporary situation (Shulman, 2004) which will be rectified as the worker gains in experience and seniority. For many workers this was not the case, since a variety of structural and individual factors prevent such advancement. This was particularly true with respect to rural areas where infrastructural and employment issues can thwart all but the most thoughtful intervention attempts.Who are the Working Poor?While various definitions have been used to classify the working poor, their numbers, by any definition are surprising. In 2003, 20% of the nation's poor were individuals who worked for at least 27 weeks of the year. And, of that number, three in every five worked full time (U.S. Department of Labor, 2005). One third of children born to working families are part of low income families (Kahne, 2004). Those numbered among the working poor span all races/ethnicities but those of African or Latino descent are more than twice as likely as Whites to be among the working poor (U.S. Department of Labor, 2005). Shulman (2004) offers an excellent description of this population:They are all around us in jobs essential to our lives. Low wage workers are security guards and childcare givers. They are nursing home workers and retail clerks. They are hospital orderlies and teacher's assistants. They are hotel workers and pharmacy technicians. They bone the chicken that we eat, clean the office buildings where we and handle our questions and complaints at call centers. (p. 21)While some of these employment options require education or training beyond high school, that training does not always translate into higher wages (Blalock, Tiller, & Monroe, 2004).Why Does the Working Poor Population Continue to Grow?The number of Americans who comprise the working poor has risen over the past and continues to grow (Kim, 1998). A variety of reasons have been advanced to explain this increase. Changes in employment structure, including the loss of high wage manufacturing jobs has limited the opportunities available for those without advanced degrees (Gringeri, 2001). The restructuring of the welfare system was among the most important factors in the rise of the working poor population. This restructuring has forced former and current welfare recipients, with limited education and training into the low wage job market where jobs provide few, if any, benefits, and little if any opportunity for advancement (Whitener, Gibbs, & Kusmin, 2003). While the stated intent of this strategy was to get people into the force so that they could work their way up, that scenario rarely occurs due to structural factors beyond the control of the worker (Whitener et al., 2003). The failure of the minimum wage to keep pace with the cost of living has made salaries earned in low wage jobs less valuable in the marketplace (Kahne, 2000; Spriggs, 2006).Low wages are among the chief reasons that workers remain among the working poor and this was never truer than among residents of rural areas (Kahne, 2004; Kim, 1998). For those living in rural areas, wages are often significantly lower than wages received in more urban areas (Gringeri, 2001). Kahne's (2004) on low-wage, single mothers reveals that those working for $6 per hour, which is above the federal minimum wage, could not earn a salary above the poverty level for a family of two. Yet these low wage workers up the core of much of the new economy. And it was estimated that low wage jobs will make up 30% of the economy by the end of the decade (Shulman, 2004, p. …