I came across a very interesting article in my search for something to write about for this blog. It is a story by David R. Jones. It appeared in the Gotham Gazette on August 10, 2006. The title is Single Mothers: Working, But Still Poor (http://www.gothamgazette.com/print/1931). In this article, Jones examines the plight of single working women who receive public assistance of some sort and receive pay raises at their jobs.
I was astonished to learn that, in 2005, the unemployment rate for single mothers in New York City was 41.3 percent. The median wage these women received was $ 11.25 per hour.
Jones tells us of Barbara Brooks, who was a single working mother. Brooks was making $ 8.25 per hour at her job and got a raise to $ 11.00 per hour. We would all think that sounded absolutely wonderful! However, this amounted to a monthly increase of $450. This increase in wages caused her to lose $ 600 per month in public assistance benefits. As Brooks herself puts it, she was “hustling backwards.”
Jones cited some recent research that showed the following about single mothers in New York City:
Approximately 80 percent of them had no employer-paid health insurance for themselves or their children.
Over one third of these mothers had to forego needed medical attention in the previous year because they could not afford it.
Fifty-three percent did not have any paid sick leave.
Sixty-one percent did not have any paid vacation.
They lost their access to public assistance, or at least a large part of it, as they obtained employment.
One thing very interesting is that this article states that many of the employed single mothers in New York City actually work for the city.
Measures being taken at the time of this article included the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which has since been implemented. The long term goal of EITC is to give much needed monies back to the working poor in the hope of raising them to where they are actually gaining ground instead of losing.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
America's Poor Children
In looking at the data in the article from the National Center for Children in Poverty (http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_684.html), I saw some items that were very disheartening. Something that was not actually said in this report, or in anything we have discussed thus far in class, is that racism is unfortunately very much alive and very well in the United States. The numbers are so lopsided toward non-Whites that it is disgusting! While only ten percent of white children live in poverty, this article states that thirty-five percent of black children live in poverty. Asian, Latino, and Native American children fall in between those two figures. In my home state of Ohio, a full forty-three percent of black children live in poverty.
This report also tells us that close to twenty percent of poor children have no health insurance. I am confident that many of these children are the children of working poor women who work in a job that either does not offer health insurance or they do not earn enough to pay for the health insurance.
I so often hear in my daily life, and have read in this report, that regular increases to the minimum wage are necessary to get people out of poverty. While I agree with this, I would put forward another thought. If the minimum wage is increased, then the employers will increase the cost of whatever they might be producing. Thus, we have a vicious circle. What needs to be done is the minimum wage increased while, at the same time, caps are put on how much profit companies can make. We are studying about poor working women and poverty. How many CEO’s live at or below the poverty level? How many of our state and national legislators live at or below the poverty level? Just increasing the minimum wage will NOT solve the problem!
Since this article was written in December, 2006, I am sure the current numbers of the categories mentioned in this article are much higher than they were back then. This was before the bottom fell out of the economy. Perhaps something like the old WPA program of the 1930’s would be a good thing to bring back.
This report also tells us that close to twenty percent of poor children have no health insurance. I am confident that many of these children are the children of working poor women who work in a job that either does not offer health insurance or they do not earn enough to pay for the health insurance.
I so often hear in my daily life, and have read in this report, that regular increases to the minimum wage are necessary to get people out of poverty. While I agree with this, I would put forward another thought. If the minimum wage is increased, then the employers will increase the cost of whatever they might be producing. Thus, we have a vicious circle. What needs to be done is the minimum wage increased while, at the same time, caps are put on how much profit companies can make. We are studying about poor working women and poverty. How many CEO’s live at or below the poverty level? How many of our state and national legislators live at or below the poverty level? Just increasing the minimum wage will NOT solve the problem!
Since this article was written in December, 2006, I am sure the current numbers of the categories mentioned in this article are much higher than they were back then. This was before the bottom fell out of the economy. Perhaps something like the old WPA program of the 1930’s would be a good thing to bring back.
Urban Poverty
There are so many things that contribute to urban poverty. Those of us that do not live in poverty would most likely look at the situations and say that these people could help themselves. However, nothing could be farther from the truth in many cases.
We already studied Julia, from the New York City area. She was finally successful in bettering conditions for her family, but it was a very long, very hard struggle. It seemed that many of her problems were caused by government and their lack of speed.
A big concern for poor working mothers is often crime in their neighborhood. Because they have very little money, they are forced to live in neighborhoods that are not nice at all. A term for these neighborhoods is “Outcast Ghetto.” (Chaudry Powerpoint “Putting Children First”) These neighborhoods often have high crime rates, drug use, and gang violence. Mothers are concerned that their daughters may become pregnant at a young age. They are also concerned that their sons may impregnate girls at a young age.
As concerns drug use, it is probably rather easy for these poor working mothers to become drug addicts even though they may think they are going the opposite direction. Here is the scenario: A mother is working two or three jobs at minimum wage to support her family. She just does not have the energy to do it, so someone offers her something just to give her a pick me up so she can continue her many jobs in addition to taking care of her family. As her system gets more and more used to the drug or drugs, she needs more and more to give her the energy she needs. Next thing you know, she is addicted without meaning to become that way. Along these same lines, a mother might “need” her drugs so bad that she would then enter into illegal ways of getting the money such as drug selling and prostitution. I would tend to see this as a major problem. It is also a very sad one because the mother is only trying to help her family, and yet she ends up hurting them and herself.
We already studied Julia, from the New York City area. She was finally successful in bettering conditions for her family, but it was a very long, very hard struggle. It seemed that many of her problems were caused by government and their lack of speed.
A big concern for poor working mothers is often crime in their neighborhood. Because they have very little money, they are forced to live in neighborhoods that are not nice at all. A term for these neighborhoods is “Outcast Ghetto.” (Chaudry Powerpoint “Putting Children First”) These neighborhoods often have high crime rates, drug use, and gang violence. Mothers are concerned that their daughters may become pregnant at a young age. They are also concerned that their sons may impregnate girls at a young age.
As concerns drug use, it is probably rather easy for these poor working mothers to become drug addicts even though they may think they are going the opposite direction. Here is the scenario: A mother is working two or three jobs at minimum wage to support her family. She just does not have the energy to do it, so someone offers her something just to give her a pick me up so she can continue her many jobs in addition to taking care of her family. As her system gets more and more used to the drug or drugs, she needs more and more to give her the energy she needs. Next thing you know, she is addicted without meaning to become that way. Along these same lines, a mother might “need” her drugs so bad that she would then enter into illegal ways of getting the money such as drug selling and prostitution. I would tend to see this as a major problem. It is also a very sad one because the mother is only trying to help her family, and yet she ends up hurting them and herself.
The Instability of Child Care
Jacqueline and Julia encountered several factors that definitely contribute to the instability of child care. First of all, Julia had already been receiving public assistance for nearly a year and a half at the time Jacqueline was born. This meant she was already behind the curve of what society would probably want to call normalcy because her income was low. One thing to Julia’s credit is that she wanted to start college right after Jacqueline was born. This did, at least, show that she was cognizant of her situation and wanted to better things for her and her family.
The first dilemma Julia encountered was that Jacqueline’s father was watching her and her two older sisters while Julia was at college. Then he and Julia broke up at the end of the semester. One of Julia’s sisters then took over the care of her sister’s children. She took care of the children almost full time for three months. Because money was so desperately needed, Julia and her sister started working at a fast food restaurant. They tried to get alternating shifts so one of them could always be at home to care for the children. When Julia’s sister, Izzy, got another job, she was gone.
For a while, Julia wasn’t able to secure child care. She finally got into a program that her city said was mandatory for women on welfare. This program also provided child care for her children. However, because the city was not paying on time, Julia lost that arrangement because she could not afford to pay the care giver and then wait for her reimbursement from the city.
Finally, Julia found Sonia through a network provided by ACD. Things ended up working out really well with Sonia.
Many of Julia’s problems were compounded by the fact that the government agencies could not get their act together, especially near the end of the Julia’s story. They closed her public assistance file, but also cut off other things as a result. It still made it very hard for Julia, but she was now headed in the right direction because she had a new job that paid much better.
The first dilemma Julia encountered was that Jacqueline’s father was watching her and her two older sisters while Julia was at college. Then he and Julia broke up at the end of the semester. One of Julia’s sisters then took over the care of her sister’s children. She took care of the children almost full time for three months. Because money was so desperately needed, Julia and her sister started working at a fast food restaurant. They tried to get alternating shifts so one of them could always be at home to care for the children. When Julia’s sister, Izzy, got another job, she was gone.
For a while, Julia wasn’t able to secure child care. She finally got into a program that her city said was mandatory for women on welfare. This program also provided child care for her children. However, because the city was not paying on time, Julia lost that arrangement because she could not afford to pay the care giver and then wait for her reimbursement from the city.
Finally, Julia found Sonia through a network provided by ACD. Things ended up working out really well with Sonia.
Many of Julia’s problems were compounded by the fact that the government agencies could not get their act together, especially near the end of the Julia’s story. They closed her public assistance file, but also cut off other things as a result. It still made it very hard for Julia, but she was now headed in the right direction because she had a new job that paid much better.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Blog # 6 - Child Care Dilemmas
The range of childcare that low income mothers use is very wide. We saw in one of the videos where mothers were allowed to bring their infants to work with them. We read in the book of Brittany, who needed to find childcare for her infant daughter Bethany. She used a male family member and paid him $95 per week. He came to her home and stayed there with Bethany. He thought this was good pay because he didn’t know what people paid for this type of care in a childcare facility. He started out doing well at first. But then he started showing up late, slacking off, and not caring for her the way he should (Chaudry, ppg 29-30). So she had to stop using him. Then, since her sister was not working at the time, she started using her. This also did not last long. Brittany needed to travel long distances to training for her new job, which meant she had to leave her daughter with a sitter for longer periods of time. This naturally meant more cost for the services provided. The longest period of consistent child care Brittany had for Bethany with one provider was almost three years.
A mother’s idea of “perfect” childcare is where the child gets the attention he or she needs, is treated fairly, and is not abused. Additionally, the child is in a happy atmosphere that is up or above the codes set by the government regarding childcare centers. I noticed in the arc report that, in the State of Alabama, there are rules in place regulating the proper operation of childcare facilities. However, at the same time, this same state has exemptions or loopholes that facilities can use to get past these rules and regulations. That means that parents using these facilities run the risk of getting substandard care of their children.
A mother’s idea of “perfect” childcare is where the child gets the attention he or she needs, is treated fairly, and is not abused. Additionally, the child is in a happy atmosphere that is up or above the codes set by the government regarding childcare centers. I noticed in the arc report that, in the State of Alabama, there are rules in place regulating the proper operation of childcare facilities. However, at the same time, this same state has exemptions or loopholes that facilities can use to get past these rules and regulations. That means that parents using these facilities run the risk of getting substandard care of their children.
Blog # 5 - Is It Immoral?
Chaudry states that even though we are fighting for welfare reform to change the plight of numerous Americans, we still dare to ask people to work for minimum wage and be able to make it through life ok on that minimum wage. We must remember that those who are asking people to do this are not working anywhere near minimum wage themselves.
As Jessica said in her video, the adults must be creative in what they say to their children so the children do not realize what their financial situation really is. To hear her say that she tells her kids they don’t need to be like everyone else and wear Nike or Air Jordan shoes is heart wrenching. Telling them that they don’t need to go to a “fancy” restaurant so she does not have to tell them they cannot afford that restaurant has to be an awful feeling for her. Telling them they are unique is awesome, but having to tell them that to save them from the realization of their poverty is disgusting. No person should ever have to tell anyone that.
This issue is a public one, not a personal one because these people are working their fingers to the bones to try and earn enough of a living to make it through life and support their families. We, as a nation, tell people they must improve their way of life, yet we as employers do not do what needs to be done to improve their lifestyle. As Jessica said, going looking for another job does not help because a new job would take her right back to minimum wage, where she is trying to get out of.
As Roseanne Barr says in the video, the fact that the richest nation in the world has people struggling like this to make ends meet is immoral.
As Jessica said in her video, the adults must be creative in what they say to their children so the children do not realize what their financial situation really is. To hear her say that she tells her kids they don’t need to be like everyone else and wear Nike or Air Jordan shoes is heart wrenching. Telling them that they don’t need to go to a “fancy” restaurant so she does not have to tell them they cannot afford that restaurant has to be an awful feeling for her. Telling them they are unique is awesome, but having to tell them that to save them from the realization of their poverty is disgusting. No person should ever have to tell anyone that.
This issue is a public one, not a personal one because these people are working their fingers to the bones to try and earn enough of a living to make it through life and support their families. We, as a nation, tell people they must improve their way of life, yet we as employers do not do what needs to be done to improve their lifestyle. As Jessica said, going looking for another job does not help because a new job would take her right back to minimum wage, where she is trying to get out of.
As Roseanne Barr says in the video, the fact that the richest nation in the world has people struggling like this to make ends meet is immoral.
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