Dealt a Bad Hand According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of today the unemployment rate in America is 4.9% which happens to be lower than all of last year. That being said, most people associate being poor with not having a job and that concept holds true most of the time. Although, that statement has some merit people forget about the idea of the the “working poor”. In David K. Shipler’s book titled The Working Poor: Invisible in America, he looks at people in many situations where they may have a job but are still below the poverty line or in serious debt. There are many different reasons for these people to be struggling whether it may be a lack of education, no support for their family, or something as simple as personal appearance. …show more content…
This key idea that there are barriers and biases is spearheaded in chapter two where Shipler looks at a few situations where people are having difficulty working or getting a job because of there personal life. Shipler offers some insight to these people’s situations but no one really can know for sure what kind of people they are. It is apparent though that people are blocked from working or even getting a job because of certain things in their life. A big issue is how personal appearance effects people’s working careers. Now, it should be noted that these people’s appearance is out of their control, not just their unwillingness to take a shower. That being said there is a woman in chapter two named Caroline Payne who suffered the effects of different biases and barriers in the work environment because of the way she looked, she had no teeth. The book states “The people who got promotions tended to have something Caroline did not. They had teeth. Caroline did not have teeth.” (52) Caroline was working hard and from the book sounded like she deserved a promotion. This is where the biases and