“Waging a Living,” has its premiere on the PBS series “P.O.V.” tonight.

[im10ashus]

An Often Discouraging Depiction of the Working Poor in America
By ANITA GATES

Jean Reynolds is 51 and earns $11 an hour. Jerry Longoria, 42, earns $12. Mary Venittelli, 41, earns $2.13 plus tips. Barbara Brooks, 36, earns $8.25.

These are the values the market places on the men and women who care for our infirm elderly, guard our office buildings and juvenile offenders and serve our restaurant meals. Roger Weisberg’s affecting documentary “Waging a Living,” which has its premiere on the PBS series “P.O.V.” tonight, follows the struggles of these four working poor for more than a year. Their stories present a discouraging picture.

Possibly the film’s single most heart-rending story concerns Ms. Brooks’s little son, one of five children she is bringing up alone, who develops breathing problems. She takes him to a doctor, who prescribes medicine that costs $195 — an expense Ms. Brooks cannot afford.

Ms. Brooks’s story is simultaneously the most hopeful and the most frustrating of the four. At the beginning of the film, she is working at a juvenile detention center (where she was once a resident) and attending school to get her associate’s degree. She soon has a job as a nursing home assistant in Huntington Hills, N.Y. (she lives in Freeport), and her income begins increasing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/arts/television/29gate.html?ref=television|cont'd...]

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. kickin to remind myself to watch

I saw the previews yesterday, looks really good.

Thanks! :hi:

[im10ashus]

2. Good morning, Viva!

I just can't imagine having to eke out a living on some of these wages in this day and age.

:hi:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I don't have to imagine

at least min. wage here in OR is $7.50, but costs are high too. :(

[im10ashus]

5. Been there myself.

Was one of the most depressing times in my life, trying to live on sub-standard wages.

[emmadoggy]

3. Notice that all of these people make MORE than the proposed

new minimum wage of $7.25 (except the waitress). And yet they are still struggling and scraping. The people who say we don't need to raise the minimum wage or that there should be no minimum wage at all, just make me want to scream my head off (and then smack them really hard!)
In a married/dual income situation, these wages may not be so bad (like the article says, Venittelli went from a comfortable lifestyle to poverty after divorcing). But on their own, with kids, and especially in more urban areas, a person can barely squeak by.

:banghead:

[im10ashus]

6. It's only 16 minutes into the program, and it's already heartbreaking.