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LIBERAL CRITICS CHARGE THAT THE G.O.P. agenda is about to make the economic ladder even more slippery. "Republicans might actually be surprised to see that they are doing things that will provide less assistance to the working poor," argues Isaac Shapiro of Washington's Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which is about to release a report detailing the impact of the budget proposals on low-income families. "They are talking of substantially reducing the EITC. They are opposed to an increase in the minimum wage. What's gotten lost in the message is that the programs that offer assistance to the working poor could be partially if not completely reversed by the new agenda."
As government training and education programs are scaled back, aspiring workers will have to rely on the private sector. Training Inc. is a national nonprofit group that helps people polish their job skills. This has given counselors like Bev Schroeder a window on people's dreams and expectations. She works at the Indianapolis branch. "When I do presentations, I'm struck by the number of people who ask, 'How much will I make at the end?' " she says. "I talk about process. They say, 'I can't take $7.50 an hour. I need at least $30,000 a year.' I say, 'What do you have now?' " The trainees talk about owning their own business someday. "You need a reality injection," Schroeder tells them.
For the past five months, Jerome Ash has spent every weekday at Training Inc. in hopes of breaking into what used to be known as the pink-collar ghetto of receptionists, typists and filing clerks. He spends game nights at Indianapolis' Market Square Arena, selling frozen drinks on a 15% commission. On his first night, during a hockey game, he made $13.05.
Along with 40 classmates, Ash spent three weeks in a simulated office, practicing how to answer the phone, send a fax, file a letter. His goal: a $7-an-hour job. "I want an office job dealing with the public." His dream? That one day, with a steady job and a nest egg, he will actually take a vacation.
THE PARENT TRAP
HARPER'S MAGAZINE PUBLISHED the response of Washington State Representative Marc Boldt to a letter from a constituent asking him to fight to preserve funding for the local family-education center. "If your situation is subject to so much financial instability, then why did you have three children?" he wrote back, expressing the concern of taxpayers. "Why is your husband in a line of work that subjects him to 'frequent layoffs'? Why, in the face of your husband's ability to parent as a result of his frequent layoffs, are you refusing to work outside the home? Why should the taxpayer foot the bill [for such education programs]?"
Being single and a parent is a good way to slip into poverty. Millions of single mothers know that, but it can be even worse to be a single father. Terry Younger remembers when he tried to get help in rearing his three children. "I've gone to some of these places, said I needed some help, and they just said, 'We can't help you; you're not a lady,' '' says Younger. "So it's double jeopardy, and I'm bucking the system."