Many little things can conspire to keep people from climbing out of poverty.
Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio’s State of Opportunity project takes of look at some of them in his report, When Working Hard Doesn't Necessarily Get You Out of Poverty.
He writes, “life is hard for people in poverty. But, … you still have no idea what it’s like to live with poverty day after day.”
Here are three things that the average middle class person probably doesn’t worry about.
- "If you’ve got a college degree, and you’re on salary, would taking your daughter to school really be a major factor in losing your job?" It was for the father Dustin Dwyer spoke to in his story.
- Losing your kids to the foster care system, not because you do horrible things, but because you don’t have the resources. University of Michigan law professor Vivek Sankaran says that happens more often than you'd think.
- Not being able to pay your parking tickets and losing your license.
"You run into problems too. Even if you’re the educated, well-off average NPR listener, you’re not immune to money problems. But when you don’t have much to start with, problems come up more often. They snowball more quickly," Dwyer explained.
The full story is available the State of Opportunity section of Michigan Radio's website.
