Immigrants’ life in America with low-wages

A large part of the population, especially in cities, is involved in low tech or low wage jobs. These functions range from housekeepers, waitresses at nearby diners, cash register at local drive-through, or sales associates at discount stores such as Wal-Mart. These people are part of our daily life. To appreciate the world of low-wage work, one has to just imagine how far the minimum wage could get. The irony is that the people accomplish these tasks cannot make a living from their work. Immigrants largely fill these positions. They come with nothing and will accept the very first opportunity. In the beginning, a lot of them share a spike of joy of their new financial freedom. The weekly checks seem to be a lot for them because what they are earning in a week may equal a year of work where they came from. This joy is usually short lived by confronting the American way of living. Those immigrants had to work harder than you can ever imagined. By the end of the shift, they are exhausted, and the money they are making is barely above enough to pay the rent, buy food, and cover other expenses. Those people are hoping they do not get sick, because the job did not provide health insurance, and they can not afford to pay for a visit to a doctor’s office. Imagine someone cleaning three motel rooms every hour all day long?
http://www.urban.org/publications/310880.html 2007
For example, Maria is a Spanish woman who pushing an pulling a vacuum cleaner across the hardwood floors, a motion she has to repeat hundreds of times to the point that her right wrist and elbow are sore. She works with her cousin, cleaning nine apartments and five houses each week. This society tends to size immigrants up by their jobs. Because of the low wages paid to immigrants, some people are living a better life. The good news is most immigrants are very motivated, determined, and depend on their age they go to school to have a career.
http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief8/