The Working Poor: A Profile

Its 7am. 28 year old Mike Smith wakes up in his room at his parents house, where he lives, as his alarm sounds. He checks his phone. There is no message, so he calls his girlfriend, Kate, at her parents house,where she lives, to say good morning, and to speak to their 3 year old son before he leaves for school.

Mike is employed by a company that is contracted by New York State. He is a full time employee, but can not afford to buy or even rent a home for his family. He is a member of a growing segment of American workers, according to reports by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He is not on welfare, he has a job, he is not homeless, but he cannot afford to cover his basic needs. He is one of the working poor.

Smith is a classroom aid at Nassau BOCES, a special education program for students with disabilities, or who are in need of specialized learning environments, in Nassau County, New York.

Smith works in a middle school, where he spends his days with one student, sitting next to him during class, assisting in behavioral redirection, note taking, chaperoning bathroom visits, and assistance with class work. Smith occasionally has to restrain the child when his behaviors get so out of hand that he becomes a danger to himself or others at school. When this occurs, Smith has to remove the student from class and bring him to a small padded room, and stay there with him until a school psychologist deems the student calm enough to return to class. During these times of crisis, Smith is often cursed at, pushed, hit, kicked and spit on by the student.

Smith also helps his charge get through his state Regents examination preparation work, that is assigned by the classroom teacher. Smith passed the Regents when he was in middle and high school, but has never attended college or trade school.

Instead, after high school, he went to work as a sales associate at Target. Then adding the first of what would be a string of supplemental part time jobs, worked as a delivery person for a decorative plate company. He wanted to start taking some technical classes to become an auto-mechanic but, he says, it would have taken to long working for too little, to get established in the business and be able to work full time. He also was having trouble coming up with money for the classes. Eventually Smith left the plate company, moving onto work nights as a bowling alley shift manager after his day job at Target.

“The benefits at the bowling alley were horrible!” he said, “we had this insurance company that you didn’t even know, like no doctors would take it and there was no dental, there was almost no point in them taking money from your paycheck for it.” During this time, Smith had a baby with his girlfriend,Kate. Already struggling to pay his basic bills while living with his parents, Smith was looking for something with at least better benefits.

The “lady who worked at the food stand” in the bowling alley told Smith about her day job as an aid at Nassau BOCES, and her great benefits, and Smith wanted in. He was soon hired as a full-time employee and began working there in the day, and kept his bowling alley job for the night.

Full-time aids at Nassau BOCES are salaried, and receive healthcare. They have a starting pre-tax salary of $28,000, and top out at $34,000. After taxes, there are deductions for health care, and an optional 401k. An employee at the top of this pay scale, someone who has worked with the organization for many years, would make around $600-$700 weekly, pre-tax and pre-healthcare deduction. Smith and Kate do not qualify for welfare- their income is too high, higher than the $1,000 a week cap on the incomes of those eligible to receive assistance. They also work more than the maximum three days a week.

Smith and Kate want to get a place of their own and raise their child. They currently both live with their parents. His girlfriend now also works as an aid, and Smith says that the two of them have tried to rent an apartment, but could not afford rent, along with electric, car insurance, cell phone bills, and food for their family of three. They were forced to divide their family and move back with their parents, separately, he with his parents, and her and their son with her parents.

Adam Markou, a Public Defender in Suffolk County, New York, says that he sees a lot of the working poor. “Most of them are working to make the same or even less than what you get on welfare,” he says. “I see a lot of family problems, and deal with a lot of domestic violence cases [from this group.] What I hear a lot is that they have anxiety from working and making very little money, and that plays into every part of their life.”

Markou says that many turn to substance abuse, spousal abuse, or both, cracking under the stress of not knowing if they will be able to afford rent and food that month.

“I also see a lot of felony cases from people who didn’t pay their traffic or parking tickets.” What he hears from them often is that they have to choose between paying their tickets, or rent. “Their priority isn’t paying off tickets; it’s putting food on the table.” This often results in substantial fines that have been compounded from unpaid tickets, revoked licenses, and ultimately in arrests or felony charges.

“It’s a pattern. They need their cars to get to work, but then they get tickets for whatever reason, and don’t make enough at their jobs to be able to cover the tickets, and then it starts adding up.” Markou says these fines can add up to thousands, making paying it off completely out of reach for those struggling to make ends meet.

Smith says that he is “doing better than most,” he has a steady full time job with benefits, works as a babysitter of sorts with disabled kids after his days at BOCES, and referees kids soccer games on the weekends. He knows “a guy that can help him get his foot in the door at a plumbing company.” But that person has asked Smith to get some training in plumbing, so Smith will have to find a way to save up some of his earnings, to pay for the classes and take advantage of this perceived opportunity.

“I’m just tryin’ to make it.” Smith says. “It’s hard, man. I’m just tryin’ to get a place and get my family back together.”