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Title: I work 4 jobs and I'm still struggling
Source:
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URL Source: http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/12/new ... time-jobs/index.html?hpt=hp_t5
Published: Dec 15, 2013
Author: staff
Post Date: 2013-12-15 15:06:24 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 830
Comments: 31
Bobby Bingham works 4 jobs, shares a one-bedroom apartment with a roommate, has virtually no money saved and can't remember the last time he took a vacation. Bobby Bingham works four jobs in Kansas City, Missouri, yet he has very little to show for it. Bingham is 37 years old and has a college degree, but like many Americans, is stuck working many hours in low wage, part-time jobs. Each week, he works a total of about 60 hours in his jobs as a massage therapist, a waiter at a Mexican restaurant, a delivery man for sandwich chain Jimmy John's and a receptionist at his massage school. He brings home about $400 a week, or $20,000 per year, and has joined the nationwide movement of fast food protests fighting for higher wages. "I've come to the point in my life where I wonder if I can ever support a family," he said. "I have no idea how that's ever going to logically happen." Bingham's is an increasingly common story. The share of part-time workers who couldn't find full-time jobs surged during the Great Recession, more than double what it was in the preceding decade. Though their situation is improving now, more than 7.7 million Americans are still settling for part-time work, compared to about 4.1 million on average in 2006. Related: The myth of the American Dream Here's what one week of juggling schedules and part-time paychecks looks like for Bingham: - 24 hours waiting tables at Mexican restaurant Taco Republic. He makes tips plus $2.13, which is the federal minimum wage for tipped employees, like waiters. -30 hours delivering sandwiches for Jimmy John's, which pays him $7.35 an hour, plus tips. -3 one-hour massages, for a total of $60. -9 hours as a receptionist at his former massage school. (The amount of money he makes working at the school isn't included in his $400 weekly pay, since it goes directly to repay $9,500 worth of student loans.) Bingham shares a one-bedroom apartment with a roommate, has virtually no money saved and can't remember the last time he took a vacation. This is not where Bingham thought he'd be. After struggling to make ends meet while also intermittently attending college, he finally graduated in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from University of Missouri, Kansas City. He had even higher hopes from his massage therapy degree. "My family told me, 'just get your degree and it will be fine,'" he said. "A degree looks very nice, but I don't have a job to show for it." But Bingham, like millions of other hourly wage earners, doesn't know if there is a possible path to a higher paying job. In fact, wages fell for the entire bottom 70% of the wage distribution during the Great Recession and its aftermath, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute. And he feels like there aren't a whole lot of places to go from here. He can't afford to go back to school, and even if he could, Bingham said it wouldn't be worth it. He doesn't have time to take on a fifth job. Related: Sick days: A luxury many hourly workers don't have So he has turned to the fast food protests in hopes of improving his current situation. He walked off work last Thursday as part of a nationwide day of action planned by union-backed groups like Fight for $15 and Fast Food Forward. Organizers say that workers in more than 100 cities were calling for fast food chains to increase their wages to $15 an hour. Currently, the nationwide average hourly wage for fast food workers is just over $9 an hour, or about $18,500 a year. The low-wage protest movement began with a small walkout by fast food workers in New York City in November 2012 and has since picked up steam. Strikes this past August drew fast food workers in 60 cities, organizers said. Bingham said the protests are the only way he sees things getting better. "The only choice I have is to go into work and do this," he said. "Looking around and seeing all these other people I work with, they don't see any other choices either." To top of page 
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#1. To: Horse (#0)
Bingham should stop working for wages and strike out on his own. imo
+1, lod. Bobby fears getting dirty and sweaty. There are plenty of good paying full time jobs out there if you're willing to apply yourself. If you choose a trade, you should be able to strike out on your own after a year or so's training.
Yeah, there's all kind of work out there for anyone willing to get down with it - plumbing, HVAC, roofing, lawn mowing, painting numbers on curbs, cleaning homes, and on and on and on. Stop applying for jobs and create your own jobs! People will pay you good money to do so.
Not easy but doable. Example... Two men here, high school dropouts, bought a tri axle truck went into heavy duty sewer repair business. You call, tell them what needs to be done right now, they bring everything and do the dirty work themselves. They are on call 24/7, regardless of weather etc etc. They are not book smart but are making good money. There is no competition and the home owners and business places are glad to pay.
#27. To: Cynicom (#15)
Not easy but doable. Example... Two men here, high school dropouts, bought a tri axle truck went into heavy duty sewer repair business. You call, tell them what needs to be done right now, they bring everything and do the dirty work themselves. They are on call 24/7, regardless of weather etc etc. They are not book smart but are making good money. There is no competition and the home owners and business places are glad to pay. In places where no permit is required to dig sewers the competition can be stiff. Other places require a permit and the work done under a licensed plumber's umbrella. Guess who pushed through the plumbers only law in DE about 20 years ago? One of the sponsors was an acquaintance of mine who owned the oldest plumbing company in Wilmington. He traveled the world as a trophy hunter so his wealth was conspicuous. I asked him why he pushed the law through and he briefly tried to convince me that it takes years of experience as a plumber (you know, working on steam heat, changing faucet seats, replacing submersible well pumps, etc.,) to correctly remove a shovel of Earth, because if done wrong, well, you can't just put it back. (or can you?) He finally cut the deuxdee and admitted that most any experienced backhoe operator can do the job just as well, as well as many macho sumbitchin' homeowners who rent the equipment and do it themselves. The problem for the plumber I knew was, guys with their own equipment hustling side munny were undercutting plumbers who charge $3,000 to repair breaks under dirt and more if under concrete or asphalt. The price fixing meant that they had homeowners by the wallet and they relied on the homeowners' insurance coverage to keep the price comfortably high. But, a part timer digging new construction laterals could easily undercut plumbers and there were no existing pipes that had to be located or repaired. Of course digging up existing sewers isn't really difficult. (tree roots, water and gas lines can be a problem-CALL MISS UTILITY before you dig!) After all, a plumber is an electrician with his brains blown out. Curly says, "No wonder there's no water-these pipes are fulla wires!" Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk."
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#5. To: Lod (#1)
#10. To: Obnoxicated, Cynicom, 4 (#5)
#15. To: Lod (#10)
Stop applying for jobs and create your own jobs!
Replies to Comment # 15. Stop applying for jobs and create your own jobs!
End Trace Mode for Comment # 15.