Author: Barbara Ehrenreich

Publisher: Owl Books; Reprint edition

Pub. in: May, 2002

ISBN: 0805063897

Pages: 240

Measurements: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches

Origin of product: USA

Order code: BA00612

Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0805063899

The New York Times Bestseller, Amazon.com's Best of 2001. It ranks #97 in books on Amazon.com as of January 11, 2007.

Like many other reviewers, I found Nickel and Dimed to be well-written. Ehrenreich's engaging and humorous style, documented with facts, made the book difficult to put down. The book tells some uncomfortable truths about life in the low-wage workforce. Ehrenreich worked as a waitress, a house cleaner, a motel cleaner, a nursing home assistant and at Walmart. The wages paid at most of these very physically-demanding jobs are simply insufficient to cover living expenses.

The question, in my mind, is this: given the admitted shortage of workers at the time this book was written, why didn't wages rise? It is as if the law of supply and demand simply stopped working. Part of the answer, according to Ehrenreich, is that the lack of transportation and the need to come up with a deposit for rental housing prevent the working poor from moving nearer to and taking better jobs. Another factor cited by Ehrenreich is management's "co-optative power" - intimidating workers by the use of personality tests and drug tests, enforcing rules against "gossip" or even "talking" (especially about wages), or penalizing those who attempt to unionize. As Ehrenreich states: "If you are treated as an untrustworthy person - a potential slacker, drug addict, or thief - you may begin to feel less trustworthy yourself. If you are constantly reminded of your lowly position in the social hierarchy, whether by individual managers or by a plethora of impersonal rules, you begin to accept that unfortunate status." Walmart comes across in Ehrenreich's telling as a particularly exploitative place to work, despite its attempt to create Stepfordlike employees doing the Walmart cheer.

An important issue raised by Nickel and Dimed is the lack of affordable housing. Many of the working poor in this book stay in motels (and wind up paying more per month than an apartment would cost) because they cannot save up the rent + security deposit to move to a rental unit. Another significant issue is the government's calculation of the poverty level, which is tied to the relatively stable price of food, rather than to the skyrocketing cost of housing.

The problem with this book has been cited by others. Ehrenreich is a visitor to this scene, something like a foreign correspondent who flies into an unknown country and starts reporting before understanding the terrain. As many reviewers have pointed out, Ehrenreich's life was artificial: most working poor do not pick up and move to another state each month, they live near family and rely on that web of relationships; most do not have cars; most share apartments. (Moreover, like many foreign correspondents, Ehrenreich parachutes in with pre-conceived ideas which she is looking to confirm, rather than with an open mind. The actual working poor described here seem to be more positive about their situations than Ehrenreich is, in part because they believe that they will work themselves into the middle class or higher. Ehrenreich's own father apparently did just that.)

Despite these flaws, Nickel and Dimed raises many thought-provoking issues and is definitely worth your time and attention.

(From quoting Beth Fox, USA)

Target readers: General readers.

Better with Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself :

			2 Buy with : ¥ 296.00
			Quantity:  +112345678910