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The Working Poor

The Working Poor No Work, LoW Pay, aNd the a mericaN Nightmare By Jeannette Wicks-Lim the Working Poor A Booming Demographic Former 2012 GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum caught hell when he called President Obama a snob for wanting everyone to get a college education. But Santorum’s words strike a discordant note that shouldn’t be ignored. The president’s frequent exhortations that everyone should go to college in order to achieve some level of economic success ignore this fact about the U.S. labor market: that now and into the next Defining the decade, more than two-thirds of the jobs that Working Poor U.S. workers will depend on to earn their he most widely recognized livelihoods will be non-college-degree jobs. definition of poverty—the U.S. Census Intentionally or not, Obama’s words suggest TBureau’s official poverty line—has been that workers without a high level of educa- widely criticized as too low because it repre- tional credentials should expect less. Such a sents an exceedingly severe level of economic view feels out of touch at best, and elitist at deprivation. Income eligibility guidelines for worst. major anti-poverty policies demonstrate the For the large majority of workers, the inadequacy of the official federal poverty line key to avoiding—or http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png New Labor Forum SAGE

The Working Poor

Wicks-Lim, Jeannette
New Labor Forum , Volume 21 (3): 9 – Oct 1, 2012
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References (5)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2012 Joseph S. Murphy Institute, CUNY
ISSN
1095-7960
eISSN
1557-2978
DOI
10.4179/NLF.213.0000004
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

No Work, LoW Pay, aNd the a mericaN Nightmare By Jeannette Wicks-Lim the Working Poor A Booming Demographic Former 2012 GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum caught hell when he called President Obama a snob for wanting everyone to get a college education. But Santorum’s words strike a discordant note that shouldn’t be ignored. The president’s frequent exhortations that everyone should go to college in order to achieve some level of economic success ignore this fact about the U.S. labor market: that now and into the next Defining the decade, more than two-thirds of the jobs that Working Poor U.S. workers will depend on to earn their he most widely recognized livelihoods will be non-college-degree jobs. definition of poverty—the U.S. Census Intentionally or not, Obama’s words suggest TBureau’s official poverty line—has been that workers without a high level of educa- widely criticized as too low because it repre- tional credentials should expect less. Such a sents an exceedingly severe level of economic view feels out of touch at best, and elitist at deprivation. Income eligibility guidelines for worst. major anti-poverty policies demonstrate the For the large majority of workers, the inadequacy of the official federal poverty line key to avoiding—or

Journal

New Labor Forum – SAGE

Published: Oct 1, 2012

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