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A contrast against the ideal portrayed in Horatio Alger novels, wherein determination and a strong work ethic could lift a person from poverty into middle class comfort, the term "working poor" describes those who work hard by necessity yet do not escape poverty.
When wage controls such as minimum wages are not set, workers without marketable skills will often face low wages, harsh working conditions, and few opportunities to attain skills that would allow them to escape their undesirable situations. Traditionally, before unionization, these individuals were manipulated into positions of debt (often as early as 12 or 13 years of age) by their employers. Laborers often lived in company towns and received wages that were deliberately set too low to cover their housing and board costs.
In 2004, the bulk of the working poor occupy unskilled and semi-skilled positions in the secondary labor market, predominantly in the service sector. Often, they work multiple part-time jobs which may require, in total, upwards of 80 hours per week of work. Often, these part-time jobs require full-time hourage (sometimes even more than 40 hours per week) but are classified by the employer as "part time" so benefits are not paid.
The working poor often live "paycheck to paycheck", so unexpected costs related to healthcare, automotive repairs, or other unanticipated events often bring them to financial ruin. Even an unexpected expense of $ 100, less than the cost of an average speeding ticket, can dramatically upset such a person's life. In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David Shipler says that these people "may find jobs, but are forced to buy cars to get to them. When those cars break down, they skip payments on phone bills to pay for repairs. Late payments send credit ratings down, causing their interest rates to soar. The stress of financial pressure causes depressionIt is common to feel sad, discouraged, or "down" once in a while, and anyone in this state might say they are suffering from depression. But for some people, this mood persists. For depression, or any other condition, to be termed "clinical" it must reach, which leads to missed work, to more missed payments, and so on".
The working poor rarely have adequate health coverage, and are frequently poorly educated. Many of them have no high schoolHigh school or secondary school is the last segment of compulsory education in Hong Kong, United States, Australia, Canada, China, Korea and Japan. It provides a secondary education. Hong Kong Secondary education in Hong Kong is largely based on the Briti diplomaA diploma (from Greek diploma) is a document issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that is one of the following: A certificate testifying that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study, A deed conferring a; in some cases, this is at the parents' demand-- at 16, the child is expected to work full-time in order to support the family, and this makes it difficult, if not impossible, to complete high school.
One cannot deny that some proportion of the working poor are in their given situations as a result of poor decisions, but once an individual falls into this class, it is difficult to escape. Even with a strong work ethic and fiscal prudence, many of the working poor still lose ground.
Job-training programs offered to low-income individuals can ameliorate this situation, by providing access to marketable skills. However, most lower-income individuals do not have the educational resources to swiftly change or expand their skill sets, and may have been given skills that, 5 years later, are useless. Some who utilize governmentA government is an organization that has the power to make and enforce laws for a certain territory. There are several definitions on what exactly constitutes a government. The government has been defined as the dominant decision-making arm (the policy el-sponsored career courses and job placement programs find themselves working in entirely different occupations than what they were trained for.