Final Essay

Lana Lopez Page 01

Ms. Williams

English 1A

20 December, 2013

Loss of Jobs and the current Living Wage and how these factors keep us down

In America the increasing unemployment rate and cost of living is keeping the average middle class citizen from attaining financial success. With little to no employment opportunities for the average person our chances for economic growth is very unlikely. America needs to form a solution that creates jobs and has a fair living wage that will keep up with the ever-growing cost of living. In the book The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Travis Smiley and Cornel West explains how incomes have not kept up with inflation and unemployment has grown rapidly for the middle class low skilled worker due to outsourcing of customer service jobs, which has led to the demise of the middle class and has created the new poor. I use this source to explain how the rapid cost of living is like quick sand pulling the average middle class citizen into great financial shambles. The American economy will continue to suffer without job stability and a fair living wage, which will make financial success/stability unattainable to the shrinking middle class. 
   The loss of jobs in the United States is preventing the average middle class American from achieving financial success. Outsourcing jobs is a huge culprit of unemployment as a result massive lay offs for the low skilled workers in America. 

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When these jobs are eliminated it takes away employment opportunity in our society and as a result it causes great financial debt due to the average person not being able to acquire income and pay their monthly dues. As stated by Smiley and West, “Let’s do the math: Incomes that haven’t kept pace with inflation + loss of manufacturing and outsourced customer service jobs + insufficient living-wage job creation + a recession that increased unemployment and downsized the middle class = the working poor” (Smiley and West 182). The average middle class low skilled workers opportunity for employment has become scarce which causes them to become financially unstable leading to their fate of becoming the new poor. Outsourcing is the twenty first centuries terminator doing away with job opportunities causing the elimination of the middle class. When low skilled employment is not offered due to large corporations use of outsourcing and downsizing keeps them from attaining a stable income causing financial deterioration and leading to financial bankruptcy. Therefor a once striving middle class American is broken down and becomes the ill fated poor, but If jobs were available and or created than these middle class citizens would have a chance at achieving financial success.

The American cost of living has become outrageous due inflation, yet incomes are not increased which makes it hard to achieve financial success. In America the cost of the essential needs such as: food, gas, education and rent has increased a tremendous amount in the past two decades, yet the average wage of an employee has hardly changed. As stated by Smiley and West, “ Incomes have increased by only 20 

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percent within the past two decades, yet the cost of living has risen steadily.... In may 2001, the cost of regular gas per gallon was $1.70..In February 2012 it averaged $3.50” (Smiley and West 183). When basic essential items begin to take a financial toll on your amount of expenditure, it causes a great strain and financial instability. When your average income is still the same as it was ten years ago it is not possible to keep up with the new cost of living since you do not have increased income to pay the difference. It leaves no chance for the ordinary citizen to become financially stable which leads to a higher chance of deficit spending. If these citizens had an increase in their income then they would be able to keep up with the cost of living instead of having to live paycheck to paycheck only barely being able to afford the basic needs. If incomes are not increased then Americans chance to achieve financial success will continue to decrease.
      When a plan to create jobs with fair living wages is created then chance at financial stability is attainable. When citizens are employed and make a fair living wage then they can afford to pay bills and stay financially stable. Until then the average middle class citizen will continue to live paycheck to paycheck. Also if jobs are not created then unemployment will increase and the American economy will diminish.  As stated by Smiley and West “With a Marshall-type of plan specifically aimed at struggling neighborhoods and grasping emerging opportunities, and with good living wage paying jobs, we can shore up families battered by bills and rebuild our troubled nation” (Smiley and West 187). We need create a solution for these issues and a plan like this should be created to help build the American economy. 

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Although we cannot control companies outsourcing we can control creating new employment opportunities for the unemployed. When we have sufficient wages and job opportunities then the chances of financial stability is increased tremendously. The increasing unemployment rate and cost of living will continue to keep the average middle class citizen for attaining financial success. 
     The American economy will continue to decline if a solution to create jobs with a fair living wage is not constructed. Without new employment opportunities for the average middle class citizen we will see a rapid growth in the new poor and the elimination of the middle class. Ultimately, the American economy will continue to suffer without job stability and a fair living wage, which will make financial success/ stability unattainable to the ever shrinking middle class. 

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Work Cited

Smiley, Tavis, and Cornel West. The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. New York: Smiley, 2012. Print.