Working With The Poor

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Arab and Jew, an intimate portrait unfolds of working American families struggling against insurmountable odds to escape poverty. "This is clearly one of those seminal books that every American should read and read now." —The New York Times Book Review As David K. Shipler makes clear in this powerful, humane study, the invisible poor are engaged in the activity most respected in American ideology—hard, honest work. But their version of the American Dream is a nightmare: low-paying, dead-end jobs; the profound failure of government to improve upon decaying housing, health care, and education; the failure of families to break the patterns of child abuse and substance abuse. Shipler exposes the interlocking problems by taking us into the sorrowful, infuriating, courageous lives of the poor—white and black, Asian and Latino, citizens and immigrants. We encounter them every day, for they do jobs essential to the American economy. This impassioned book not only dissects the problems, but makes pointed, informed recommendations for change. It is a book that stands to make a difference.

How do Christian practitioners express authentically holistic transformational development? This is the challenge to World Vision development practitioners and to all non-government organizations concerned about community development that addresses the whole person and the entire community. This dilemma is rooted in the western assumption that the physical and spiritual realms are separate and distinct from one another. Such a dichotomy leads to a belief among practitioners that restoring people's relationship with God has nothing to do with restoring just political, social and economic relationships among people. Even Christians often believe God's redemptive work takes place in the spiritual realm, while the world is seemingly left to the devil. But the Bible never separates the physical from the spiritual - the rule of God permeates both. In this volume, development practitioners struggle to overcome the problem of dualism and find a way toward a more genuinely holistic approach to helping the poor. Experienced development practitioners reflect on: - Understanding poverty - Participatory learning and action - Appreciative inquiry - The Bible and transformational development - Sustainable economic development - Community transformation in the urban context - Community development and peacebuilding Everyone wanting to engage in transformational development will find new insights and essential learnings from these hands-on practitioners.

More than three billion people in the world live on less than two-and-a-half U.S. dollars per person per day. In this book, Gary Fields explains how the poor work, how they have improved their self-employment earning opportunities, how poor-country governments can stimulate more inclusive economic growth, and how they can be aided.

Today, a college education is increasingly viewed as the gateway to the American Dream—a necessary prerequisite for social mobility. Yet recent policy reforms in the United States effectively steer former welfare recipients away from an education that could further their career prospects, forcing them directly into the workforce where they often find only low-paying jobs with little opportunity for growth. In Putting Poor People to Work, Kathleen Shaw, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Christopher Mazzeo, and Jerry A. Jacobs explore this troubling disconnect between the principles of "work-first" and "college for all." Using comprehensive interviews with government officials and sophisticated data from six states over a four year period, Putting Poor People to Work shows how recent changes in public policy have reduced the quantity and quality of education and training available to adults with low incomes. The authors analyze how two policies encouraging work—the federal welfare reform law of 1996 and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998—have made moving people off of public assistance as soon as possible, with little regard to their long-term career prospects, a government priority. Putting Poor People to Work shows that since the passage of these "work-first" laws, not only are fewer low-income individuals pursuing postsecondary education, but when they do, they are increasingly directed towards the most ineffective, short-term forms of training, rather than higher-quality college-level education. Moreover, the schools most able and ready to serve poor adults—the community colleges—are deterred by these policies from doing so. Having a competitive, agile workforce that can compete with any in the world is a national priority. In a global economy where skills are paramount, that goal requires broad popular access to education and training. Putting Poor People to Work shows how current U.S. policy discourages poor Americans from seeking out a college education, stranding them in jobs with little potential for growth. This important new book makes a powerful argument for a shift in national priorities that would encourage the poor to embrace both work and education, rather than having to choose between the two. Institute for Research on Poverty Affiliated Books on Poverty and Public Policy">An Institute for Research on Poverty Affiliated Book on Poverty and Public Policy

One of the Best 5 Books of 2014 — Esquire "I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time. Well, not this book, because I never imagined that the book I was waiting for would be so devastatingly smart and funny, so consistently entertaining and unflinchingly on target. In fact, I would like to have written it myself – if, that is, I had lived Linda Tirado’s life and extracted all the hard lessons she has learned. I am the author of Nickel and Dimed, which tells the story of my own brief attempt, as a semi-undercover journalist, to survive on low-wage retail and service jobs. Tirado is the real thing." —from the foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed We in America have certain ideas of what it means to be poor. Linda Tirado, in her signature brutally honest yet personable voice, takes all of these preconceived notions and smashes them to bits. She articulates not only what it is to be working poor in America (yes, you can be poor and live in a house and have a job, even two), but what poverty is truly like—on all levels. Frankly and boldly, Tirado discusses openly how she went from lower-middle class, to sometimes middle class, to poor and everything in between, and in doing so reveals why “poor people don’t always behave the way middle-class America thinks they should.”

The book provides important findings on the link between institutions and in-work poverty. The volume makes a significant contribution to this strand of literature as evidence on cross-country differences is scarce. The combination of case studies and comparative quantitative investigations is an interesting approach. Annekatrin Niebuhr, Papers in Regional Science This data-rich book explores the causes of in-work poverty in Europe. . . The balanced provision of theoretical insights and strong empirical support will prove useful to poverty scholars and policymakers alike. Contemporary Sociology A book on in-work poverty could not be timelier. . . At a time when many of the working poor are likely to become the non-working poor this book is a must-read. Zoë Irving, Journal of Social Policy This volume represents a valuable contribution to debates on welfare states, public policy, poverty and social exclusion. It is an empirically rich and analytically robust comparative collection, highlighting the variations between and contradictions of in-work poverty across Europe. Patricia Kennett, University of Bristol, UK For a long time in-work poverty was not associated with European welfare states. Recently, the topic has gained relevance as welfare state retrenchment and international competition in globalized economies has put increasing pressures on individuals and families. This book provides explanations as to why in-work poverty is high in certain countries and low in others. Much of the present concern about the working poor has to do with recent changes in labour market policies in Europe. However, this book is not primarily about low pay. Instead, it questions whether gainful employment is sufficient to earn a living both for oneself and for one s family members. There are, however, great differences between European countries. This book argues that the incidence and structure of the working poor cannot be understood without a thorough understanding of each country s institutional context. This includes the system of wage-setting, the level of decommodification provided by the social security system and the structure of families and households. Combining cross-country studies with in-depth analyses from a national perspective, the book reveals that in-work poverty in Europe is a diverse, multi-faceted phenomenon occurring in equally diverse institutional, economic and socio-demographic settings. With its rich detail and conclusions, this genuinely comparative study will be of interest to academics and researchers of labour and welfare economics, social policy and European studies as well as to policy advisers.

Over the last three decades, large-scale economic developments, such as technological change, the decline in unionization, and changing skill requirements, have exacted their biggest toll on low-wage workers. These workers often possess few marketable skills and few resources with which to support themselves during periods of economic transition. In Working and Poor, a distinguished group of economists and policy experts, headlined by editors Rebecca Blank, Sheldon Danziger, and Robert Schoeni, examine how economic and policy changes over the last twenty-five years have affected the well-being of low-wage workers and their families. Working and Poor examines every facet of the economic well-being of less-skilled workers, from employment and earnings opportunities to consumption behavior and social assistance policies. Rebecca Blank and Heidi Schierholz document the different trends in work and wages among less-skilled women and men. Between 1979 and 2003, labor force participation rose rapidly for these women, along with more modest increases in wages, while among the men both employment and wages fell. David Card and John DiNardo review the evidence on how technological changes have affected less-skilled workers and conclude that the effect has been smaller than many observers claim. Philip Levine examines the effectiveness of the Unemployment Insurance program during recessions. He finds that the program’s eligibility rules, which deny benefits to workers who have not met minimum earnings requirements, exclude the very people who require help most and should be adjusted to provide for those with the highest need. On the other hand, Therese J. McGuire and David F. Merriman show that government help remains a valuable source of support during economic downturns. They find that during the most recent recession in 2001, when state budgets were stretched thin, legislatures resisted political pressure to cut spending for the poor. Working and Poor provides a valuable analysis of the role that public policy changes can play in improving the plight of the working poor. A comprehensive analysis of trends over the last twenty-five years, this book provides an invaluable reference for the public discussion of work and poverty in America. A Volume in the National Poverty Center Series on Poverty and Public Policy

"Powerful and poignant.... Newman's message is clear and timely." --The Philadelphia Inquirer In No Shame in My Game, Harvard anthropologist Katherine Newman gives voice to a population for whom work, family, and self-esteem are top priorities despite all the factors that make earning a living next to impossible--minimum wage, lack of child care and health care, and a desperate shortage of even low-paying jobs. By intimately following the lives of nearly 300 inner-city workers and job seekers for two yearsin Harlem, Newman explores a side of poverty often ignored by media and politicians--the working poor. The working poor find dignity in earning a paycheck and shunning the welfare system, arguing that even low-paying jobs give order to their lives. No Shame in My Game gives voice to a misrepresented segment of today's society, and is sure to spark dialogue over the issues surrounding poverty, working and welfare.