Great discoveries always start with big questions. Barbara Ehrenreich asked two big questions: "How can we live with the wages available to unskilled people" and "How can the approximately four million women about to be pushed out of the labor market by labor reform social protection, will they succeed with 6 to 7 dollars per year? hour” (2001, p. 12). To answer these questions, Ehrenreich embarked on a journey to find out for herself if she could match her income and expenses as a low-wage worker. In fact, Ehrenreich tested the fundamental principle of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, also known as welfare reform, to determine whether people formerly on welfare and largely unskilled workers could earn a decent wage on the minimum wage. book, Ehrenreich documented her experiences working in a series of minimum wage jobs as a waitress, housekeeper, and dietary assistant at a nursing home. Ehrenreich discovered that to make ends meet and afford housing and food, she had to work two jobs, which left her in a constant state of exhaustion and pain. She also observed of her fellow servers that "everyone who doesn't have a working husband or boyfriend seems to have a second job" (2001, p. 48). Many of his colleagues shared the same challenge with affordable living conditions, some living in a van, with their mothers, sharing a room with strangers, or even living in a ship in dry dock (Ehrenreich, 2001). Ehrenreich not only found that the wages offered to unskilled workers were not sufficient to meet basic needs for food and shelter, but that there were also a “host of special costs” (2001, p. 27 ) borne by poor workers. For example, workers are required to invest their own funds in a partial uniform and pay ...... middle of paper ...... y Status, by family relationship, race and Hispanic origin Washington DC: US Bureau of the Census Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/historical/people.html. United States Department of Labor. (2011). Employment Status of Population, 1940s to Present Washington DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat1.pdf.US Dept of Health and Human Services. Administration for Children and Families. (2011). TANF – Data and Reports. Washington DC: US ​​Department of Health and Human Services Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/data-reports/index.htm.US Office of Management and Budget. (2011). Table 11.3 — Expenditure on personal payments by category and major program: 1940-2016. Washington DC: White House Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/hist11z3.xls.