It's Not Like I'm Poor: How Working Families Make Ends Meet in a Post-Welfare World

by Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Kathryn Edin, Laura Tach

The world of welfare has changed radically. As the poor trade welfare checks for low-wage jobs, their low earnings qualify them for a hefty check come tax time―a combination of the earned income tax credit and other refunds. For many working parents this one check is like hitting the lottery, offering several months’ wages as well as the hope of investing in a better future. Drawing on interviews with 115 families, the authors look at how parents plan to use this annual cash windfall to build up savings, go back to school, and send their kids to college. However, these dreams of upward mobility are often dashed by the difficulty of trying to get by on meager wages. In accessible and engaging prose, It’s Not Like I’m Poor examines the costs and benefits of the new work-based safety net, suggesting ways to augment its strengths so that more of the working poor can realize the promise of a middle-class life.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Social Science, Poverty

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

Reviews

[Bri (readingknitter) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read It's Not Like I'm Poor: How Working Families Make Ends Meet in a Post-Welfare World in conjunction with  The Financial Diaries to help give me some additional background on a future work project. Both books detail research studies that examine the financial realities of working class families in the U.S. Taken together, these books paint a full picture of what life and finances are like for many working families in America. While both discuss the nuance, expectations, and impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC; a tax credit that is given to working families whose annual income fall below a specific threshold) for the families in their individual studies, most of It's Not Like I'm Poor revolves around this... unfortunately to the point of redundancy. 

While I genuinely appreciated what the researchers uncovered about how families understand and use the EITC, many of the sentences were repetitive, which made it annoying as a reader to slog through the entire book. It's Not Like I'm Poor follows families in Boston who received a large EITC in the year before the study was conducted. The researchers surveyed and interviewed the families in their study during 2007, thus capturing the realities of these families before the economic downturn of 2008. While the end of the book returns to some of these families post-2008, the meat of the data is prior to the economic collapse. 

The big takeaway from the book is that families view the EITC as a refund that they deserve and are getting back through their taxes, and not as an additional payment that they are receiving because their annual income is low. The families don't apply the same shame to receive the EITC as families traditionally have with welfare (a fantastic thing that means more families are likely to claim their credit and take advantage of the program), and instead view this as "our money" that they receive for being full time workers. Many families use the money to get ahead on finances or mentally think of the credit as their savings, though the families in the study knew not to rely on receiving the credit year after year. However, families must be working to claim this credit, meaning that if there is sudden job loss, these families have no economic safety net as the post-welfare world erodes the benefits available to those without jobs.

There were some key, critical points that It's Not Like I'm Poor contributed to the literature and I feel like these could've been an incredibly powerful 30 page paper, but the weight of its findings were weakened in this text. If assigning this for a class, I would recommend selecting a specific chapter instead of the entire book and the main ideas should be conveyed enough for a fruitful class discussion.

3.5 stars

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[Karah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this book but it provided more breadth to statistics than attention to personal stories. I thought it would be a collection of oral history. Families would get paragraphs but not full chapters.

Debra McKinley, a 28-year-old mother of two daughters, hadn't caught up on any of her bills all year. Her expenses surpass her salary. One statement from her will stay with me: "I try my hardest to give [my girls] anything that I've ever wanted and could not have (61)." She managed to give her daughter a celebratory dinner at Red Lobster for earning good grades. If moments like these didn't happen, too many people would have an interminable sense of failure.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book about how Americans are poor or barely getting by, researched and written by Kathryn Edin and her colleagues. This book is persuasive about the importance of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, and the policy suggestions that the authors make at the end of the book are worth exploring and implementing. This is a great example of how to do research in the social sciences, as well as allowing the reader to share the experiences of the subjects, who are treated with respect and compassion.

[Eowyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

While initially, this book put poverty in perspective, I grew tired of the terrible organization and repetitious statements/ideas/examples.

[Susan Kurth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the various stories about the families, but after a while it became very repetitious. Seemed like an article padded to be a book.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors interviewed 115 low-income families to find out about their experiences with the Earned Income Tax Credit. They compare the EITC to traditional welfare asserting that the EITC is a more effective program especially in light of restrictions placed on welfare. They share the stories of the families that receive EITC and look at how they spend the money they receive.

This book seemed like something that would be right up my alley, and while in general the topic was I found the book itself to be very repetitive. I'm pretty sure the same information could have been conveyed much better in a 20 page journal article instead of being dragged out into a 300 page book. I just felt like the authors were saying the same thing over and over again.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative on low income families and the “deserving poor”, or those who work. The book goes into immense detail regarding the EITC, and it’s benefits and drawbacks. There is some repeat in the book, and it could’ve probably been shorter by quite a few pages. Still recommended reading for anyone interested in poverty or social programs/welfare.

[Pamela Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick read but certainly helped me understand life in this country for people on the margins. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to understand poverty in this country.