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Weekend Reading (September 10, 2004) Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich is the saga of a well educated reporter's experiences as she navigates minimum wage jobs in a number of places around the country. It's an easy read and a compelling reminder of the difficulties of life in the underbelly of our economy. 30% of the workforce spends its time in the never-never land of 'almost making ends meet most of the time' that constitutes life at the bottom of the pile.
The premise of the book stretches thin from time to time as Ms. Ehrenlich's upper middle class tastes and sensibilities cloud the reporting of her adventure. It's the details of others' experiences that make this such an interesting read: a worker saving up to buy a $7 polo shirt off the clearance rack at Wal-Mart so that her Wal-Mart uniform will be complete, drug testing details and avoidance, choosing between a furnished trailer and a basement apartment, the meaning of a $50 medical expense in the 90 day waiting period for health insurance, the financial rat race, the difference $1,000 in cash makes. This is a world that the Internet is not going to reach anytime soon. When $20/month in access fees is the same as a half day's take home pay and a $700 computer is nearly a month's, job hopping, personal development through eLearning and automated job agents are simply not going to make the difference. Tragically, this pool of labor is, in some ways, harder working and more industrious than the other 70% of us. With tightened borders and escalating retirements, demands for growth will have to be met from within our borders. Interestingly, the newspaper industry is in the most logical place to make a difference. What's left of the classified advertising business are the endless ads (whether or not there are jobs) for retail, restaurant and other low level service industry positions. Although the concept of accountability between an employer and an applicant is stretched to its absolute thinnest in this demographic, there is room for change. This is one of those places where a newspaper gets to ask itself who its customers really are and what its role in the local economy actually is. Nickel and Dimed is worth reading. John Sumser
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