I have been fortunate enough throughout my life that I have yet to work at a low wage job. However that does not mean that the impact of low wage jobs is not present in my life. Because my parents have been able to provide for our family so well, we have always had cleaning ladies and gardeners who we pay a low wage. I always felt bad seeing them come over to our house and knowing how much better off I am than they are, even though I’m so much younger. Even with the money that they make cleaning all those houses, they are still struggling, and my mom would always offer them our old things when we cleaned out our house, which they graciously took. They are the nicest and sweetest ladies and I have always felt that they deserve so much better than what they have, which makes me want to work hard and strive for a better life.
Everything that I just described is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of low wage workers and the working poor, and I feel as though those same thoughts occur for many people. An issue that has been prominent in my life, and that I feel has often times been overlooked is the teenage working poor. Yes many teenagers work for a low wage, however most people have the mindset that they are not poor and they are still supported by their parents. Yet there are many teenagers who are in fact part of the working poor. I learned this first hand from two of my best friends in high school. Ever since the beginning of freshmen year, they have worked low wage jobs. Having a job was not a regular thing for girls in my class because we went to a private catholic school with a fairly high tuition, so I was extremely surprised when I found this out about them.
My friend’s parents were struggling enough trying to pay for their tuition, and that was just about all the money they could spare. So if my friends wanted any of their own spending money, they were going to have to figure out a way to get it on their own. I was shocked by this, and the idea of supporting myself as a freshman in high school terrified me. Nevertheless being a working poor teenager is a reality for many people. My friends obviously do not appear poor because they went to the school that they did and their parents still did provide them with shelter and education and food. But they were not as fortunate as me in that they could get by without having a job. They basically paid for everything throughout high school other than their house, education, and food.
Especially in the recent economy situation with so many people struggling to find jobs, teenagers are having an extremely difficult time finding work. Because of their inexperience, teenagers are often the first to be laid off in budget cuts. They are also at the bottom of the chain when it comes to rehiring. The unemployment rate of teenagers is nearly three times that of the non-teenage group. This is a major problem because there are teenagers out there who are in serious need of work, but it is impossible for them to find any. The economy has also prevented many of the older workers from retiring, so the competition is extremely high with many more workers than there usually is. People that have just graduated from college are often times working jobs that do not even require a college degree because they cannot find anything better to do. There are so many factors that prevent teenagers from getting decent jobs and supporting themselves when their families cannot. They are stuck working extremely low wage jobs if any, and then find it difficult to ever move much further up the totem pole.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/business/economy/05teen.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1252173756-h0l4XqtoiSriPQpy/yIk5w
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