The Working Poor: Invisible in America

“The term by which they are usually described, ‘working poor,’ should be an oxymoron. Nobody who works hard should be poor in America.”

In stating that nobody who works hard should be poor in America, Shipler sets a polemic, emotional tone for the beginning of the book. The term "working poor" is an oxymoron because it is paradoxical that work, which typically earns the worker money, should still leave him poor.

“‘Poverty’ is an unsatisfying term, for poverty is not a category that can be delineated merely by the government’s dollar limits on annual income. In real life, it is an unmarked area along a continuum, a broader region of hardship than the society usually recognizes.”

Shipler here sets out the premise that poverty cannot merely be defined by numerical statistics but is instead experienced in multiple complex ways. Therefore, someone who is above or around the government’s dollar limits on annual income could still experience poverty.

“This is the forgotten America. At the bottom of it working world, millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being.”

Shipler continually emphasizes that the working poor are invisible or forgotten. This is both because their poverty remains stubbornly intransigent regardless of the fluctuations of the market and because their essential work is deemed to be of low value to wealthier Americans. Shipler’s use of the “twilight” metaphor indicates the precariousness of the poor’s well-being. Like light on the hour of impending darkness, well-being is something they can grasp at but not depend on.

“Breaking away and moving a comfortable distance away from poverty seems to require a perfect lineup of favorable conditions. A set of skills, a good starting wage, and a job with the likelihood of promotion are prerequisites. But so are clarity of purpose, courageous self-esteem, a lack of substantial debt, the freedom from illness or addiction, a functional family, a network of upstanding friends, and the right help from private or governmental agencies. Any gap in that array is an entry point for trouble, for being poor means being unprotected.”

Shipler’s long list of the conditions needed to break out of poverty indicates just how difficult a feat it is. Good employment conditions help, but they are only bolstered by physical health and a supportive social network. A gap in the “array” of conditions needed to break out of poverty leaves the subject vulnerable to continued hardship.

“When an exception breaks this cycle of failure, it is called the fulfilment of the American Dream.”

Shipler emphasizes that those who can break through the challenges of poverty, which are experienced at every level of life, are exceptions, not the norm, as most Americans would believe. Therefore, the American Dream that through hard work one can rise above the circumstances of his or her birth is a myth of exceptions.

“State lotteries do a booming business at the corner stores in poor parts of town as people pray for the right number to come up and deliver them from hardship. Businesses large and small practice American consumer culture’s universal deception: the sweet-sounding come-on that doesn’t quite resemble the fine print.”

Shipler testifies to the working poor’s susceptibility to miraculous schemes that will lift them out of poverty or at least delay their experience of its worst effects. Businesses such as lotteries and loan agencies prey on the working poor’s vulnerability and misunderstanding of the “fine print” and profit from it. Shipler indicates that there is a ruthlessness at the heart of American consumer culture.

“They are caught between America’s hedonism and its dictum that the poor are supposed to sacrifice, suffer, and certainly not purchase any fun for themselves.”

Shipler highlights the paradox of being poor in America, which celebrates itself as a place of abundance and where the temptation to spend is everywhere. Being poor means being excluded from the nation’s favorite pastime of careless consumption, and by extension, it means not being able to fully participate in the experience of being American.

“‘It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty.’”

Shipler opens his second chapter with a quote from the Roman orator, Juvenal. Juvenal implies that poverty does not only affect one’s purchasing power, but that it can diminish a person’s character. The idea that personal qualities are thwarted by poverty is crucial to Shipler’s findings that those who have suffered abuse or remained unskilled due to a lack of financial means are often not immediately employable.

“Money may not always cure, but it can often insulate one problem from another […] In the houses of the poor, however, the walls are thin and fragile, and troubles seep into one another.”

Shipler uses the metaphor of a thin-walled, ramshackle house, much like those inhabited by the poor, to illustrate how a problem in one area of life leads to the intrusion of hardship in others.

“The American ideal embraces an equality of opportunity for every person but not an equality of result. In fact, free enterprise thrives on difference—the difference between the owner and the worker, the educated and the less educated, the skilled and the less skilled, the adventurous and the timid, and ultimately the rich and the poor.”

Shipler emphasizes the cruel paradox in capitalist enterprise: it creates opportunities at the same time that it thrives on differences. In order for some people to become fabulously wealthy and for businesses to be competitive, some workers have to be paid little for their hard work and subsequently will endure poverty.

“It is a sad truth now that a young person with limited skills and education arriving on these shores—or entering the workforce from a background of poverty—will start on the bottom rung only to discover that the higher rungs are beyond his grasp.”

Comparing an impoverished young person today with his grandfather—the son of Polish immigrants, who learned on the job and worked his way up from poverty—Shipler finds that there is less scope for rising, both in terms of employment and lifestyle. Therefore, the American notion that hard work cures poverty is less true in present times than it was 100 years ago.

“The remaining 98 percent come without visas, and if the laws against employing them were enforced efficiently, agriculture in North Carolina and certain other parts of the country would shut down.”

Shipler illustrates that if the laws against the illegal immigration of agricultural workers were to be properly enforced, agriculture would shut down. He shows how the industry relies upon people working illegally, in often harsh and cryptic conditions, for less than the minimum wage. Additionally, he finds the management of the agricultural industry deeply shaming and exposes the extent of the problem.

“[F]or these men, the workplace was like a foreign culture. They entered it burdened by their personal histories of repeated failure: failure to finish school, failure to resist drugs, failure to maintain loving relationships, failure to hold jobs. Nothing in their track records predicted success, and no brave promises could paper over their doubts about themselves.”

Shipler emphasizes his point that those affected by poverty and all its associated afflictions feel dramatically unsuited to the workplace. Having no prototype of success in any area of their lives, the poor, in this case a circle of black ex-convicts and alcoholics, cannot prepare themselves for being successful at work.

“The soft skills should have been taught in the family, but in many cases, the family has forfeited that role to the school. In turn, the school has forfeited the role to the employer. The employer simply does not know what to do.”

The soft skills of the workplace, such as punctuality, maintaining adequate personal hygiene, and having a positive attitude, are missing from many poor and disadvantaged employees. These skills that would seem innate to anyone nurtured in a loving, secure home are potentially deferred until employment and only the most conscious and kindly assertive employer can make a change in this respect.

“The amount a family spends on food is elastic; it can be expanded or squeezed to fit whatever cash is left after the unyielding bills are paid. The result is an array of malnourished children in America.”

Shipler relates the saddening fact that low-waged families often cannot afford to adequately feed their children. It is as though the “elastic” cost of food goes into competition with the bills that keep a roof over the family’s head or the lights turned on.

“‘I use the light-switch analogy. When the switch is off, there’s just no input and there’s no output. Certain students have learned to walk in a classroom […] and turn off the switch.’”

Shipler’s citation of an Akron teacher’s finding, highlights how ill-prepared some students from poor, disadvantaged families are for learning. Their lack of personal enthusiasm and encouragement from their families is an obstacle to learning, as they enter the classroom in a "switched-off" state.

“I have often thought that the best way to learn about a country is to visit its prisons, hospitals, and schools. Inside those institutions, a society’s vision and morality are on vivid display against the background of its ideals.”

Shipler believes that a country’s public institutions are a good indicator of how it measures up to its ideals. In these places, it is possible to see how a country’s morality and vision play out in challenging circumstances. He will go on to argue that America is lacking in this respect.

“The villains are not just exploitative employers but also incapable employees, not just overworked teachers but also defeated and unruly pupils, not just bureaucrats who cheat the poor but also the poor who cheat themselves. The troubles run strongly along both macro and micro levels, as systemic problems in the structure of political and economic power, and as individual problems in personal and family life.”

Shipler here addresses the “either/or” debate, whereby Democrats are more likely to believe the troubles of the poor are systemic and Republicans hold the conviction that the responsibility lies with the individual and family. Shipler confirms that both the individual and society are responsible for the plight of the poor. Therefore, systemic improvement in conjunction with individual motivation and family support are necessary for the alleviation of poverty.

“If hospitals, schools, housing authorities, police departments, welfare offices, and other critical institutions were bold and well enough financed, they could reach far beyond their mandates, create connections of services, and become portals through which the distressed could pass into a web of assistance. It is a question of skill and will.”

In proposing a solution for improving the lives of the working poor, Shipler argues that better financed public institutions, which could lead to “web of assistance,” could be greatly beneficial. He has shown throughout his study the benefits of such initiatives and argues that having them more readily accessible to a greater number of Americans would make a difference.

“The lower their income and education, the less likely Americans are to believe that voting makes a difference. That doubt is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Shipler here reveals the trap of disenfranchisement that the working poor are likely to fall into. Feeling badly off and exhausted by their circumstances, regardless of who has political power, poor Americans do not believe that voting has power. They are therefore invisible to politicians.

“Government has the skill to legislate a big boost in the minimum wage, but it lacks the political will, largely because most low-income Americans don’t vote their interests or don’t vote at all, and can’t compete with private industry’s sophisticated lobbying and campaign contributions.”

Shipler emphasizes that the disenfranchisement of the working poor keeps them trapped in poverty and that private industry, which lobbies to defend its interests and keep wages low, can purchase political power through campaign contributions. The ignorance and indifference of the poor with regard to politics is reflected back at them when there are insufficient government initiatives to raise the minimum wage.

“Given the decisive nature of the earliest years, why doesn’t American society muster its most ingenious efforts to guide parents and safeguard children?”

Having found from his study that many of the problems that entrench people in poverty begin in the early years of life, Shipler argues that there should be more investment in services that teach traumatized parents how to nurture their children so that they grow up to be healthy and confident in their abilities. Posing this question as he is nearing the end of his study, Shipler highlights the urgency of the problem of early years’ abuse and neglect.

“To appraise a society, examine its ability to be self-correcting. When grievous wrongs are done or endemic suffering exposed, when injustice is discovered or opportunity denied, watch the institutions of government and business and charity. Their response is an index of a nation’s health and of a people’s strength.”

Shipler argues that a society’s ability to change and correct its past wrongs is an index of its capability and health. It requires that people are strong enough to withstand change and perhaps in this case, humble enough to recognize there is a problem in the first place and seek ways to deal with it.