Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by: Barbara Ehrenreich
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Amazon.com Review:
Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.
As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.
So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed
Product Description:
The New York Times bestseller, and one of the most talked about books of the year, Nickel and Dimed has already become a classic of undercover reportage.
Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.
Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.
As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.
So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed
Product Description:
The New York Times bestseller, and one of the most talked about books of the year, Nickel and Dimed has already become a classic of undercover reportage.
Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Waste of time
This book was a waste of my time. The time she spent working on this book gave her BARELY a superficial knowledge of what it is like to live on or below minimum wage. She started out with a chunk of money to help her through hard times and constantly dipped into it yet acting like she had to work hard every hour to earn it all back. Sure, her back hurt a little and she may have been "offended" by drug tests, but it is not even remotely a taste of what it is like to work 2 jobs and not have a house ... Read More
Rating: 
- Good Book
Its a good book; took a little long to get the book to me, but it was a good product
Rating: 
- nicel and dimed is worth much more than a nickel and dime
Nickel and Dimed
I read this book after reading Dishwasher Pete, a verylightweight read. Unlike Dishwasher Pete, Nickel and Dimed takes a hard look at how Americas low wage earners live and/or survive on such low wages. Nickel and Dimed is heavily footnoted, with anecdotal information and studies to support Ehrenreich'sclaims. Throughout the book, Ehrenreich was pretty forthcoming when she could have cut corner's to save money but instead choose comfort over bargain. Had this ... Read More
Rating: - Interesting, but limited methodology
Ehrenreich has a very interesting and worthwhile research question on the working poor in this country who are being severely mistreated.I also loved her in text Marxist references.However, her methodology is somewhat flawed.She sets her own rules (having a car and an allowance) real poor people dont have these choices and she cant say that she really experienced desperation.However, her undercover reporting did put her into contact with real day laborers and gave her a better appreciation for ... Read More
Rating: - This Author Has No Work Ethic
This book is a scham. Barbara has no work ethic, chooses poorly, and gave herself no chance at success.
A guy named Adan Shepard wrote a book called Scratch Beginnings and he basically did the same thing. With a good attitude, hard work, and a little bit of good decision making he excelled where Barbara failed.
It just goes to show you how far some hard work and perseverance will go.
- Waste of timeThis book was a waste of my time. The time she spent working on this book gave her BARELY a superficial knowledge of what it is like to live on or below minimum wage. She started out with a chunk of money to help her through hard times and constantly dipped into it yet acting like she had to work hard every hour to earn it all back. Sure, her back hurt a little and she may have been "offended" by drug tests, but it is not even remotely a taste of what it is like to work 2 jobs and not have a house ... Read More
- Good BookIts a good book; took a little long to get the book to me, but it was a good product
- nicel and dimed is worth much more than a nickel and dimeNickel and Dimed
I read this book after reading Dishwasher Pete, a verylightweight read. Unlike Dishwasher Pete, Nickel and Dimed takes a hard look at how Americas low wage earners live and/or survive on such low wages. Nickel and Dimed is heavily footnoted, with anecdotal information and studies to support Ehrenreich'sclaims. Throughout the book, Ehrenreich was pretty forthcoming when she could have cut corner's to save money but instead choose comfort over bargain. Had this ... Read More
- Interesting, but limited methodologyEhrenreich has a very interesting and worthwhile research question on the working poor in this country who are being severely mistreated.I also loved her in text Marxist references.However, her methodology is somewhat flawed.She sets her own rules (having a car and an allowance) real poor people dont have these choices and she cant say that she really experienced desperation.However, her undercover reporting did put her into contact with real day laborers and gave her a better appreciation for ... Read More
- This Author Has No Work EthicThis book is a scham. Barbara has no work ethic, chooses poorly, and gave herself no chance at success.
A guy named Adan Shepard wrote a book called Scratch Beginnings and he basically did the same thing. With a good attitude, hard work, and a little bit of good decision making he excelled where Barbara failed.
It just goes to show you how far some hard work and perseverance will go.
