Nickel and Dimed: On (Not)

¶ … Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Specifically, it will contain a book report on the book answering some specific questions about her experience. Ehrenreich's experience illustrates the plight of many working people today, especially working women who are struggling to raise a family alone. Sociologically, the book says much about a country that allows these working poor to continue struggling - creating a greater rift than ever between the working poor and the wealthy elite.

The book "Nickel and Dimed" is a look at low-wage earners in America, and how the minimum wage is not enough to live on, let alone thrive on. Ehrenreich is an American white woman who takes on low-wage jobs in numerous states for this book, but her situation would not have been much different if she were an immigrant. She would still have trouble making ends meet. The biggest difference would probably be the quality of the job the immigrant woman got. In her study, Ehrenreich attempted to make at least $7.00 per hour in wages and tips, which is well about the national minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. If she had been an immigrant worker, especially one with few English skills, then she probably would have made the minimum wage, which would have made it even more difficult to survive. Throughout the book, the author notes how difficult it is for the poor to get ahead, and change their lives on these low wages. She writes, "There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs. If you can't put up the two months' rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week" (Ehrenreich 27). Immigrants also might not be as savvy as Ehrenreich was about where to look for jobs and where to live, so they might not be able to find as many of the higher, low-wage jobs. Their language skills might not allow them to look in the newspaper or on the Internet to find better jobs, and they certainly would not have computers to help in their search.

If the author had been a woman of color, she might have faced additional discrimination in hiring, and found she was kept away from certain jobs, even though such hiring practices are illegal. She does note often throughout the book that many (in fact most) of her co-workers are white, so it is clear immigrants and women of color work at even lower paying jobs behind the scenes. She also notes that no matter what their color, most of the women have to have a second job just to survive. She notes, "Of my fellow servers, everyone who lacks a working husband or boyfriend seems to have a second job: Nita does something at a computer eight hours a day; another welds" (Ehrenreich 39). Thus, these women work hard at one job, but cannot rest; they go to a second job just to pay the bills, leaving little time for recreation or relaxation, even if they could afford it.