Question

How do Ehrenreichâs accounts in Nickel and Dimed help us identify the single most important key to understanding poverty in the U.S.?

Answer 1

Answer:  The correct answer is: Barbara Ehrenreich wants to show upper and middle class people who read her book the difficulty that exists for people who work for low wages. Society believes that a job is a way out of poverty but for Barbara in her experiment, it was not so, she says that the poor are poor because the system is against them. All the jobs she experienced were physically demanding and some very harmful for her long-term health. She states that each job has its own hierarchy and standards, and there are very few rewards for excellent performance. In Key West, she realized that he had bought a used bicycle to move instead of her car, she would have the need to have two jobs and could not keep them since they were both physically demanding. In Portland it was better economically but she had to work 7 days a week and it was very difficult to maintain this regime. In Minneapolis, in order to support herself, she must have worked 11 hours a day. She concluded that rents are too high and wages too low. But in turn the poor are necessary for the welfare of the rich. She states that the poverty rate has remained low in recent years as it is calculated based on the price of food, while the price of rent has skyrocketed.