39 mill. Americans in working poor families ,1:5 jobs $ less than poverty

[cthrumatrix]

39 million Americans in working poor families
One in five jobs pay less than a poverty-level wage, study findsThe Associated Press

Updated: 7:46 p.m. ET Oct. 11, 2004

WASHINGTON - One in every five U.S. jobs pays less than a poverty-level wage for a family of four, according to a study by the nonpartisan Working Poor Families Project.


The result of so many low-paying jobs is that nearly 39 million Americans, including 20 million children, are members of "low-income working families", those barely have enough money to cover basic needs like housing, groceries and child care, the study found.

The study classified a "working family" as one in which there was one or more children and at least one family member had a job or was actively seeking work.

Besides staying current on bills, many of these folks also struggled to save up for a bigger home or for a child's college education, said Brandon Roberts, one of the report's authors.

snip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6228704/

[cthrumatrix]

1. Don't forget that bush is against raising the nat minimum wage.....

About 28 million jobs in the United States provided less a poverty-level wage, which works out to about $8.84 an hour, the study said. The median wage for a waiter was about $6.80 an hour; for a cashier it was $7.41 an hour.

That points to the need for the federal minimum wage to be raised from its current $5.15 an hour to ensure those in such positions can support their families, researchers said.


same link

[Disturbed]

2. Bush Economic Plan is ...

working. Turn as many Middle Class workers into the Working Poor. This gives the Multi-Natls. more wealth. US workers are expendible due to the globalization of work.

[UpInArms]

3. Meanspin promotes the abolition of the minimum wage

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0716-13.htm

Published on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Rep Bernie Sanders vs. Chairman Alan Greenspan
Exchange between Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and FED Chairman Alan Greenspan in yesterday's hearing in the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. Greenspan, I have long been concerned that you are way out of touch with the needs of the middle class and working families of our country, that you see your major function in your position as the need to represent the wealthy and large corporations.

And I must tell you that your testimony today only confirms all of my suspicions, and I urge you -- and I mean this seriously, because you're an honest person, I think you just don't know what's going on in the real world -- and I would urge you come with me to Vermont, meet real people. The country club and the cocktail parties are not real America. The millionaires and billionaires are the exception to the rule.

You talk about an improving economy while we have lost 3 million private sector jobs in the last two years, long-term unemployment is more than tripled, unemployment is higher than it's been since 1994.

We have a $4 trillion national debt, 1.4 million Americans have lost their health insurance, millions of seniors can't afford prescription drugs, middle-class families can't send their kids to college because they don't have the money to do that, bankruptcy cases have increased by a record-breaking 23 percent, business investment is at its lowest level in more than 50 years, CEOs make more than 500 times of what their workers make, the middle class is shrinking, we have the greatest gap between the rich and the poor of any industrialized nation, and this is an economy that is improving.

I'd hate to see what would happen if our economy was sinking.

Now, today you may not have known this -- I suspect that you don't -- but you have insulted tens of millions of American workers.

You have defended over the years, among other things, the abolition of the minimum wage -- one of your policies -- and giving huge tax breaks to billionaires.

But today you have reached a new low, I think, by suggesting that manufacturing in America doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where the product is produced. We've lost 2 million manufacturing jobs in the last two years alone; 10 percent of our work force. Wal-Mart has replaced General Motors as the major employer in America, paying people starvation wages rather than living wages, and all of that does not matter to you -- doesn't matter.

...more...

[Robert Oak]

5. Bernie Sanders rocks

I love this guy. Wish we could get more of them in congress/senate.

I watched one of those informercial/investigative reports last night
late on MSNBC and it was showing families in shelters and homeless
in San Diego.

I kept flashing in my mind to the middle ages, where the peasants
were in shacks, hungry, exploited, basically slaves...

and I realized there isn't see much difference from that to what is happening today in the United States.

it's an absolute crime to see so many families and they are not on drugs or whatever, just people, with children, who often to due minimum wage and inability to find hiring paying work,
cannot afford an apartment or they became ill, with no disability
insurance or health care and thus lost their ability to pay their rent. There they are wife, husband and kids, in a shelter or on the waiting list to get into a shelter and out on the street.

this isn't talked about anymore either.

In 2001/2002 there were many people with Masters/BS degrees living in their cars in California because they couldn't pay rent and couldn't find a job...usually they were computer scientists and engineers.

[MisterP]

9. good God!

well, what can you expect from Ayn Rand's supposed first squeeze?

[MichiganVote]

4. What is not paid in income, taxpayers make up for w/entitlements

Another example of business working the tax system. Seriously, business gets a pass and we buy food stamps, medicaid and a host of social services most of which do nothing to lift people from poverty. Such a deal.

[seventhson]

6. I am in that boat

but bailing like crazy

[Polemonium]

7. This needs to be repeated

Over and over we've got to shout about the Bush administrations poor record ("you can run but you can't hide" as some village idiot recently put it).

[AP]

8. But Kerry and Edwards voted for the IWR.

This is the important issue this year and regardless of the IWR, this is an issue that Kerry and Edwards have been consistently on the liberal side of and they are running for P and VP in order to get more wealth to flow down to the people and to give them more opportunities while the Bush administration is using fear as a smoke screen to deny these people the wealth they deserve.

[JCMach1]

10. Many more millions are forced to live at this level because of

mounting debt...

AS everything becomes more expensive (especially healthcare), there is simply no money left for anything but basic needs.

[JoFerret]

11. Yahoo; One quarter of Americans live in poverty

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&e=5&u=/afp/us_social_jobs_poor

And how many have the foolish fantasy that they will soon be rich?

[argonne]

12. Oh something like

50% of this group will vote Republican because????

It's NOT economics. Religion, social issues trump economics.

"We may be poor in this life, but Jesus will reward us in heaven."

[Laughing Mirror]

13. and that's just one-quarter of WORKING Americans

They dare not report the millions of ALL Americans, working or not, who are, by their definitions, living in poverty. Just like they won't report the real number who are unemployed, just those who are collecting unemployment checks. Everybody else drops off the rolls, isn't counted, doesn't count, doesn't matter. Just like the body count of Iraqi civilians we kill that the Army won't "do," so is left unreported. The recently reopened Statue of Liberty ought to be fitted out in a ball and chains as a real reflection of how Lady Liberty treats the "poor and weary" she holds out up a beacon for.

[Polemonium]

14. Ahhh nothing like a strong economy

This country has a sickness, and part of it stems from the big lie (I'll be rich soon).