Working Poor Struggle

[jeffrey]

Cathy Gardner faces difficult choices. With barely enough money to cover her bills and the rent on the home she shares with her brother, she sometimes can't afford to buy food. Other times, she goes without the prescription drugs she takes for her depression...

Food server. Home health care worker. Grocery clerk. These are the kind of bread-and-butter jobs that once sustained a family with decent benefits and solid wages. Today, these jobs are more likely to bring a life of poverty.

The ranks of the working poor are swelling as more families slip into poverty, health benefits are lost and low-wage employees bear the brunt of many corporate cutbacks. That means more employees — many of them in service jobs that are essential to the economy — are working full-time, only to find they can barely support their families... [read more at usatoday.com]