BOOTSTRAPS

I do not know of too many people who decide for themselves what their annual income will be. There is the legendary scenario where a person is in such demand by the headhunting company executive that he gets to name his salary.  This may actually be a fact for a very few people but typically the wage or salary paid is determined by the company that is doing the hiring or is set via a collective bargaining agreement.  Whatever the method is it is not usually up to the employee to make the determination.

In order to earn a progressively better income over a period of years, the employed person must 1) have appreciating skills that permits promotions, 2) employment with a company that has a step-wise pay scale or a collective bargaining agreement, 3) be employed at a place where there are employment positions available to be promoted to, or 4) the ability to shop their availability and skills to other employers.

An example of a situation that is exemplar of #3 that is not a good situation is a public transit bus service.  The company may hire 1,000 drivers to operate buses but only maintain 10 to 15 supervisors.  Supervisor would be the second step in promotions but the opportunities are highly limited when there are potentially 1,000 in-house candidates with which to compete.  While not all drivers are or will ever be suitable to be a Supervisor, promotion prospect are very scarce.

Most public transportation providers do not undergo rapid growth of operations where in influx Fail new talent would suddenly be required.  Therefore, the ability of an individual employee to affect his/her income growth is minimal, even when they have excellent credentials and skills.  The only need to the company is the ability to safely drive the bus and prepare all the periodic reports.  Doing everything correctly is the only measure of excellence and one can only go down from there.

Giant retailers such as Walmart, in particular, employs upwards of 220,000 people.  People work there "at the pleasure of the owner," that is there are no guarantees or protections.  A person accepts whatever pay is offered, is subject to the work hours rules, and has zero control over promotions practices.  People who go to work in such places may never be promoted or receive a pay rate increase even after many years.  This is just the model that the employer created and strives to maintain.  A person seeking more income must go elsewhere to get it.

In communities where a very large employer sets up shop there are usually few alternatives to working at that location. A person seeking better pay and conditions, advancement opportunities will have to consider relocating to obtain it. At the lower end of the income level continuum, relocation is not compensated and the feasibility is low for the employee.  In households where two people hold jobs,sometimes even with the same employer, one person choosing to relocate for better opportunities is just not an option.

These obstacles to advancement do not occur to the upper middleclass workers because they are not subject to the limiting factors as being a two income household, working in a sea of personnel who all have the same job description,or live in places with only one significant employer.

While Conservatives cry for poor people to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps," first they must have boots and then they must be allowed to do the pulling.  Such self-help activities are stacked against the low income workers who really do want to do better than they are allowed to do. Lower income workers might make disproportionately longer trips-to-work and spend significantly more of their time getting from one place to another.

Consider this morning ritual.  Mom gets the three children ready in the morning before going to her 8-hour per day job.  The youngest must be dropped off at daycare.  The middle child must be dropped at Pre-school and the oldest at her Elementary school.  Then Mom goes to her job.  Now consider doing all this while riding the bus.  To top it off, the bus stops on the highway adjacent to her employer and she must walk ¼ mile to the employees'entrance.  If driving a car, she could park in the lot next to the building.

When she gets that $5,000 per year pay increase she will be able to afford to buy, insure, maintain and fuel a car.