The Economic Consequences of Homelessness in The US

Through their words, we see what it’s really like to be “working poor” in America — and
just how much more it looks like rock bottom than most would imagine.
Being working poor means toiling through “pure hell” for next to nothing.
Earlier this year, 55-year-old Glenn Johnson was making about $14,000 a year — or
$7.93 an hour — at a Miami-area Burger King. He’d been in and out of the fast food
industry for more than 30 years. Recently he watched as his employer reported a 37
percent increase in its quarterly profit, while continuing to resist a minimum wage
increase that workers like Johnson have been fighting for.
Johnson described his daily routine as “pure hell.” It’s a nonstop effort to keep the store
clean and the customers and his managers — most of whom are less than half his age
— happy. “Sometimes, I get home and I’m so tired, I eat dinner, take a shower, lay
down to watch TV, and I’m going to sleep,” he said. “Next morning comes. I’m tired,
but I’m trying to make it.”
And yet still wishing you could work more.
While Johnson was far from enthusiastic about his work at Burger King, with no
computer and few immediate prospects of another job, he still wished he could clock
more hours. He said he worked about 35 hours a week, but wanted anywhere from 40
to 50, which would make it easier to pay for his $765-a-month rent, gas and any of the
things he can’t currently afford. Since Johnson first told his story, his corporate-owned
Burger King made him full-time and gave him a raise.
Deangelo Belk, a 21-year-old Wendy’s employee making $7.50 an hour, also knows the
pain of not getting enough hours to pay for the things he wants or to help him save
enough to move out of his mother’s house. He works around 10 hours a week and said
that he’s regularly ignored when he asks for more time.
Because you know you’re lucky to have a job, no matter how awful it is.
Vanessa Powell, 29, works full time in a Goodwill warehouse in Seattle for $9.25 an
hour. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in business
administration. But with her fiancé out of work, she’s just grateful to have a job, even
though she occasionally feels it’s “beneath” her. Even with the job, however, it’s
sometimes hard for them to get enough to eat.
“I mean, yeah, it’s dirty work and often demeaning work, but at least it’s work,”
she said. “Even though [my fiancé] only worked part time, it was still something. I make
enough to cover rent and electric, but we share a cell phone, which is why it’s kind of
hard for both of us to search for jobs.”
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