Poor Single Mothers example essay topic

In the article "Foreword: Making Ends Meet, How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work", author Christopher Jencks addresses the issue of how single mothers are able to survive while being on welfare and having low-wage jobs. According to authors Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein, most poor single mothers supplement their income from other sources such as: money from relatives, friends, their children's fathers, or some employment that is not reported to the IRS (1997, pp. ix- iv). When they report extra earnings, their benefits get cut by the extra amount they made. I agree that they must supplement their income. According to Mr. Jencks, in 1992, 1.5 million single mothers reported an annual income of $5,000.00.

That is under $420.00 a month for their expenses, even with AFDC, food stamps, and Medicaid that would be nearly impossible to survive on (2001, pp. 393-394). Mr. Jencks brings up a good point when he mentions that there have not been any public discussions on how single mothers paid for their bills, other than rent, food and Medical. He mentions Conservatives did not want to bring it up because that would bring attention to the fact that AFDC benefits were too low to support a family on; Liberals also did not want to bring it up because they did not want to admit that recipients were supplementing their budget with unreported income. Not mentioning this issue actually caused more damage to poor single mothers; because it was never discussed the public assumed that the recipients of welfare were able to get by on what the government gave them. When it came down to cutting benefits when the state budget tightened, the public assumed the recipients would be fine with less each month (2001, p. 394). Eden and Lein did some research in a few cities in America; they found that many poor single mothers bought products or services that were beyond their means.

I agree with how they feel, this did not mean they were living well, just that constantly buying only necessities can become incredibly depressing, so they will splurge once in a while (1997, pp. ix- iv). It sometimes helps a person's self-respect to buy a nice outfit or gifts for their children, and I think it is important for mothers to have self-respect. When a mother feels good about herself she will be better able to take care of her children. I agree with Mr. Jencks when he brings up that everyone has seen poor people buy things that we would consider too expensive to buy for ourselves (2001, p. 394). I can see where a person can get the wrong impression when a single mother is able to buy expensive meat with food stamps, while they have a cart full of generic soup. When people don't get the whole picture they often assume that poor people are just taking a free ride from the government.

This kind of quick judgment can cause people to have very negative attitudes about welfare and the people who are on it. I wish it was easier for people to understand, when poor people splurge on a couple expensive items they compensate by tightening their budgets in another area or by doing some extra work. As Christopher Jencks wrote, "people cannot live by bread alone, we should not expect poor people to spend all their money on either bread or its equivalent" (2001, p. 394). I do not believe that single mothers want to be on welfare, but most are unskilled and could only get a minimum wage job. Minimum wage would not be enough to cover daycare, health insurance, rent, food, etc., so it seems their only choice is to be on welfare while supplementing their budgets with unreported income. This could easily be changed by raising the minimum wage; helping the mothers with daycare and housing expenses; and by retrieving back-owed child support payments from the fathers who have steady jobs.

Sounds simple enough, but according to Mr. Jencks, single mothers and their children need some sort of consensus regarding how they should be supported. Unfortunately, that is something America is not likely to produce; without a consensus America is not going to be improving the economic status of single mothers' and their children anytime soon (2001, p. 398). I wish more people would understand that by helping single mothers out so they can work and still pay their bills will not make becoming a single mother more tempting, and therefore create more single mothers. I do hope that single mothers and their children will be able to get the help the desperately need sometime soon.

Bibliography

Jencks, C. (2001).
Foreword: Making ends meet, how single mothers survive welfare and low-wage work. In J.E. Post, A.T. Lawrence, & J. Weber, Contemporary business issues with readings (Rev. custom ed., University of Phoenix). (pp. 393-398). New York: McGraw-Hill Prim is Custom Publishing. Edin, K. & Lein L. (1997).