Equality or Nah?...

The media and government has recently made a huge story about an “income gap”. This income gap is basically the gap that exists between the rich and the poor in America, but in the whole world. This gap becomes important when it comes to the ability to have access to quality education, good neighborhoods and even the chances to succeed. This has become an important topic within the media. Yet, people deal with this on a daily basis, with no one paying attention. Just as fast as the story entered the news, it has seemed to float away. People hope for deep end jobs and some politicians feel that this is all that they need but what can they do when these jobs close? These jobs give no real experience and no true way to move up into a different financial situation. This is not just a minority or black problem. As an Oakland native, there were not many poor Caucasians that I knew of. When we thought “rich”, we thought “white”. When I moved to Alabama, I found out that there were plenty of poor whites that shared a struggled with a life that I once thought was a “black thing”. As I began to work and grow, I saw plenty of white people much older than me and wish they had have made the decisions in life that a lot of the young people at the job made. While we (college students) were working until graduation, they were working to provide and hoping they can stay up through their next job that began 4 hours after our job ended. I say this to say that the issue is not race although minorities tend to far to often end up on the wrong side of the stick. There is a issue with low-income people as a whole and their ability to get ahead or to even live comfortably. The current society that we live in seems as if it is not truly made for people with low skills, education or job experience.

Americans enjoy a comforting housing outlook compared to most other countries around the world, the affordability of housing is still an American issue with a serious need for attention. We may not be in a 3^rd world country, but there are many people living under the poverty level with no hope of getting ahead. While we have people fighting against raising the minimum wage, there are people using most of everything they have on rent. The amount of income used on rent or mortgage is used in estimation to understand how comfortable a living situation is for a household. This is used to determine how much someone gets in programs such as Section 8. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has stated that people that spend more than 30 percent of income on housing are cost burdened and may have difficulties in providing the necessary needs such as food and transportation. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan states that, “an estimated 12 million renters and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.” Meaning that there is no place is the United States that a full-time minimum wage earning can afford a 2 bedroom home and live comfortably enough to save to get out of their situation. This harsh reality of the shelter  makes one wonder “Can this be true?” but what you should wonder is if low income citizens are aware of how the odds are stacked against them?

3 millions people were working for minimum wage in 2012 and in the class considered the "working poor" there were 10 million people, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These people are the ones that worked at least 27 weeks in the labor force but still managed to be under the poverty line. 84% of these people tended to call low wages the issue and not particularly the job market. Being that the majority of high paying jobs are typical for the 9.3% of Americans with a college degree. Georgetown professor Carole Feldman states, the average wage for workers that did not finish 9^th grade is $26,545, for high school graduates and for people that hold GEDs the average is $40,545, while the average for adults with a bachelors or higher is $81,761 in annual salary. Even though all school is important, the big choices are made in high school. Those years are the most important of a person’s life and if they do not go right, then a person are bound to live a life of catch-up. Bad choices at the ages of 14-18 years old can have lifelong consequences. The bad luck of someone’s past may lead to a future of struggle, minimum wage jobs and long hours. It is easy to talk if you made the right choice, but what if you are that person with felonies? What if you are that person with no education? What if you are that person with the kids, in school and are having trouble making the ends meet? A lot of these people are hardworking tax payers and contributing members to society? Yet, some may feel that they are just out of luck. Like they are the have-nots that have to exist in the greatest country on earth. The gap in income means more to some people than others. What do you think?

-Q.Young
Urban Echelon Magazine and Blogspot

Fair Market Rent in your State: http://nlihc.org/oor/2013