At one point, she is working two jobs and working seven days a week. Even then, she is only just able to supply herself with the basics. .

             Ehrenreich also offers an opinion on the housing problem where she states that the high rent is a problem in all places "where tourists and the wealthy compete for living space with the people who clean their toilets and fry their food" (Ehrenreich 12). This suggests that the minimum wage earners are pushed out of decent accommodation by the people who are better off. The higher wage earners can afford higher rent and so rents go as high as these people can afford. Ehrenreich's reference to the wealthy though, doesn't seem to refer to those that would typically be considered wealthy. Instead, the wealthy are labeled from the point of view of someone who is on minimum wage. The wealthy then are really the skilled workers who are by no means rich, but are rich enough to afford to live reasonably well and at least manage to meet their basic needs and achieve a basic living standard. This strongly suggests that there is a major problem in society, since it seems absurd to think that you have to be wealthy just to have enough to have a decent place to live and be able to eat. This is a basic right that every person should have and it seems wrong that it is not available to everyone. It seems especially wrong that it is not available to a person working as hard and as many hours as Ehrenreich does. .

             Ehrenreich also provides further analysis of the problem. As she sees it, there is a supply and demand issue at the heart of the problem. Workers need to work, but there are more workers then there are jobs. This gives employers the ability to keep wages current and still have those jobs filled. In fact, this just created more demand for jobs because workers will be looking for two or three jobs. In this situation, there is no need for employers to increase wages so they do not.