Will Work For Food: America on $195 week

Here's a post, a short excerpt from Mother Jones (January 2009) written by Sasha Abramsky, describing the hardships of today's working poor. The economic downturn has affected those at the financial bottom the most. How long can those like Aubretia Edick last on $195 a week?

"I'll take a sandwich to work, and that's about it," says Aubretia Edick, who is 58 and works in the pharmacy department of a Wal-Mart in Hudson, New York. "I'll drink a lot of tea. Once in a blue moon I'll go into Save-a-Lot and I'll get some meat. Eggs is kinda like a luxury kind of thing."

While researching my forthcoming book on hunger, I met plenty of people like Edick-full-time workers just barely making it. When we spoke this past June, her manager had been trimming her hours; she was earning about $297 a week ($195 after taxes and deductions). Rent and utilities run her about $112 per week, gas and car insurance another $40. Then there are doctor visits, covered only after a $1000 deductible, and medicines for a thyroid problem, anxiety and osteoporosis.

Some weeks, Edick spends as little as $10 on groceries, patronizing the grimy discount stores whose prices run even lower than Wal-Mart's; she can tick off a list of notable sales going back for months. "I had some oranges," she recalls with a self-deprecating smile. "A couple of months ago they had grapes on sale." As for meat, "If it's less than three dollars for a package of six steaks, that looks like a good deal to me." Her staples include PB&J, canned ham salad, soup: "I'll get chicken noodle or Campbell's Chunky. There's meat in there. You can pour it over noodles and put butter on it. It's like a delicacy."

Edick hasn't yet resorted to handouts, but food charities that once catered primarily to the destitute report a flood of working-poor clients. An estimated 28 million Americans were on food stamps as of last April, up from 17 million in 2000. "There's times I'm hungry, and I'll look in the refrigerator for something-I'll find a snack pudding. Some left over rice," Edick says softly. "I'm not starving or anything like that."

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