Nickel and Dimed Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a well written but frightening book that looks into the real lives of invisible, low wage, hard working Americans. Ehrenreich brings up many topics that are rarely spoken about in our society and decides to go back to "old-fashioned" journalism to find out how women, who are pushed in the labor market after leaving welfare and without government ... housekeeping while she still works at Jerry's. She is faced with and overcomes many physical, psychological, and emotional triumphs along the way. I think that Barbara Ehrenreich is a br...

• Word Count: 531
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

nickle and dimed 4. More than once Ehrenreich discusses the severe bodily and psychological harm that hard work at low pay can cause, the physical damage as well as spiritual damage. While working as a maid, Ehrenreich saw that many of her co-workers had physical problems because they had worked as maids for many years. While on the job as a maid, Ehrenreich had to scrub " hard-stone floors [without] knee pads" the company she worked for did not have them (50). Although she did not stay on the job for long, other people had experienced that job for a long time. The fact that they have to kneel...

• Word Count: 1216
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... one that covers the basics, such as food, shelter and transportation. In Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich struggles with finding affordable shelter, food, and other basic necessities because of the measly wages she receives. Ehrenreich claims that, ideally, in order to survive on minimum wage, " one job will never be enough." (Ehrenreich 60) According to a study performed by Princeton Economists, David Card and Alan Krueger, " a realistic minimum wage set at a family ... families are forced to find motels to live in as an alternative, to alleviate the burden of security deposits and exorbit...

• Word Count: 1140
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Nickel & Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist who posed as an unskilled worker in 1998 to highlight the struggles encountered every day by Americans attempting to live on minimum wage. Ms Ehrenreich had always been interested in poverty but was inspired to conduct this experiment by the new welfare reform laws enacted in 1997. As the result of the new law, people would be expected to leave welfare and get ... jobs. Sounds good. Unfortunately, the jobs they were able to get really didn't pay enough to live on. Nickel & Dimed is about her ... ecperiences as the trave...

• Word Count: 717
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... to acknowledge was that the book needed to be written to address female inequalities in society. The reaction from the Feminine Mystique closely paralleled some people's reactions to the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Many felt that Ehrenreich was judgmental and should not have written the book. They felt that the author did not have a "true" low-wage working experience. I agree that ... to live a low-wage workers life. I feel that this book needed to be written. Despite her sarcasm and human errors the book she wrote raised the awareness on the misunderstood class and pro...

• Word Count: 1209
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Nickel and Dimed: On not getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich is a nonfiction novel which I read for pleasure over the summer. Ehrenreich is a journalist who goes undercover as a member of the working class poor. She discovered if one really can get by on minimum wage. So many times people have said, "why don't they just get a job?" when they do not know how hard it is for these people ... jobs themselves. She works in different geographic areas such as Florida, Minnesota, and Maine. She tries various types of jobs from waitressing and nursing home aide to Wal-Mart and Merry Maids. Ea...

• Word Count: 494
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... . To just get a glimpse of this is one thing but one girl decided to take it one step further and she joined the life of these people for a short time and then she wrote a book about it. After a thorough reading of her book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich very clearly conveys the sad state that these minimum wage workers are living in. There are many hardships on ... . They have to over come many hardships just to get a place to stay in and eat. Their opportunities in life are not equal to other peoples, as the dream of the United States was supposed to be. These workers are by no me...

• Word Count: 681
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... people. How can a low-wage worker improve himself? School is a viable solution, but how is a minimum wage worker supposed to pay the sky-high tuitions of higher education? Statistics, and Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, show us these people can barley afford to eat on their wages let alone pay for, or even save for, an education. Without education, a better job is impossible so ... you anywhere, as it would in a more prestigious office job. It seems as though the only existing solution to the plight of the poor is if a tax incentive is offered by the government to employ...

• Word Count: 1170
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School