More on the Working Poor

In a nation that has long operated on the principle that an "American Dream" is available to anyone willing to try hard enough, the term "working poor" may seem to have a bright side. 

Yes, these individuals struggle financially, but at least they have jobs...  the first and most essential step toward lifting oneself out of poverty...  right?

According to 2012 Census data, more than 7 percent of American workers fell below the federal poverty line, making less than $11,170 for a single person and $15,130 for a couple. By some estimates, one in four private-sector jobs in the U.S. pays under $10 an hour. 

Last month, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have raised the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, despite overwhelming public support for the measure.

They're a diverse range of people: single parents, couples with and without children, young women with graduate degrees, business owners, seniors and everyone in between.

Their financial situations, however, show many similarities. Jobs generally provide them with the means to barely scrape by, treading paycheck-to-paycheck, earning just enough to keep from going under, swallowing their pride sometimes to take food stamps or visit food banks.

Others are entirely out of work, tirelessly seeking employment and relying on other means to survive.  

Through their words below, 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. 

And yet still wishing you could work more. 

Because you know you're lucky to have a job, no matter how awful it is.

But finding employment can also risk the crucial aid that helps you get by. 

Being working poor means knowing it can be expensive just to keep your job.

Or lowering your standards for employment and often still not finding work.

 It means making shortsighted decisions because long-term plans seem doomed. 

And living in constant fear of losing what little you do have in an instant.

Even if things seem manageable now, you could be just a few setbacks away from collapse.

Being working poor means learning the hard way that investing in your future can actually make 

things tougher. 

And can put you at a disadvantage even as you're just starting your adult life.

Even if you saved for retirement, being working poor means using up those funds long before you get there. 

It means facing the harsh reality that while money can't buy happiness, it's hard to be happy without any.

And realizing that without money, it's difficult to meet fundamental human needs.

For the working poor, basic medical care is a luxury that's often sacrificed. 

Or a necessity that leads to taking risky chances.

Because not having the money to seek medical treatment doesn't mean you don't need medical treatment. 

Being working poor means coming up with creative solutions in order to eat.

And sometimes accepting you'll just have to go hungry.

It means sacrificing your own basic needs for those of your children.

Or coming to terms with the fact that you may never be able to afford parenthood at all.

And if you have children, being working poor means worrying that their lives will ultimately be harder than yours.

Thank God,

 we live in America, 

where,

we take care of our own...