Theories of motivation Essay Example for Free

Theories of motivation Essay Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed clearly showed us how difficult it was for the lower 20% population of America to merely survive an entire day. Given the fact that it was during the years 1998 and 2000 that America had its glorious economic boom, it cannot be denied that Ehrenreich’s novel brought to us a wakeup call to reality. On how she struggled to merely pay for her rent or even to get herself enough food to eat is something that a lot of Americans are actually experiencing, especially now that we are in the state of recession. If Ehrenreich had conducted her experiment in the present, I believe, she would have gotten a worse and more difficult experience. The state of America’s economy now is something far from promising—not only for Americans but also to everyone else throughout the globe. It can never be denied that whatever the state of a country’s economy is there will always be a greater percentage of people who belong to the base of the economic triangle. Those people are the ones who struggle to merely have a bed to sleep on at night or even food to eat for the day. They are the ones who push themselves to the limit—physically and mentally—just to survive. Back in 1998, America was considered as one of the best economical refuge of people from different countries. A lot of Asians, Latin Americans, Australians and even Europeans alike venture to the United States to find a better state of living. Nowadays, however, most of those people are starting to leave the country to go back to their homeland due to the sudden loss of jobs and affordable places to live in. This is one proof that indeed, compared to before, the economy of the United States has gotten worse and if Ehrenreich did conduct her experiment in the present, she’d definitely have a harder time. In 1998, 1-star motel rent rates of the US ranged from $13 to $20 a night, depending on the location of the motel and the services that were included with the rent, such as TV, telephone, security, etc. These motels usually were badly kept, needed serious repair and didn’t even provide the basic needs of the usual customer. These were the types of motels that a usual low-wage homeless worker goes to stay. In the present, 1-star motel rates are actually much steeper compared to before, ranging from $55 to $90 a night, with the fact that less motels are available now due to the increasing instability rate of America’s economy. Given those facts, if Ehrenreich would have conducted her experiment in the present, her chances of finding a cheap will-do place would be smaller. She’d have to struggle into either working extremely hard to pay the rents of the most available motel she could find or stay nights in her car for the moments that she didn’t have a place to stay. Of course, Ehrenreich’s chances of surviving in the present would vary greatly depending on her wages. With the reality that wages are a bit higher nowadays compared to before, Ehrenreich would still be having a hard time. In 1998 to 2000, minimum wages were around $6 to $7 an hour and having only one job is not enough to pay for anyone’s monthly rent—add to that food, medics, gas and all the other basic necessities. During the experiment, Ehrenreich struggled from being a waitress to a housekeeper to a dietician and in every month that she had her experiment, she always had to have two jobs just for her to pay the monthly rent. As time goes by, the rich multiply in number, twice as much for the poor and like what Ehrenreich said in her novel, low cost apartments and motels are being replaced by expensive condominiums and apartments, forcing people to rent spaces that they cannot even afford with merely just one or two jobs. If Ehrenreich were to conduct her experiment in the present, she would likewise be forced to rent a space that’s either near her workplace or quite available, which however would force her to choose between extremely expensive and quite affordable. According to Time Magazine, the hourly minimum wage was increased by . 85 cents back in 2007. This happened to be a relief for some people who were working in companies that somewhat considered their employees for good compensation. In some small businesses, however, like Laundromats, Supermarkets and Salons, not much change were seen. Employees who worked under such industries had wages that averaged to only $3 per hour. Given this scenario plus the sudden spike of unemployment in America due to fluctuating prices of basic necessities we could pretty much say that Ehrenreich’s chance of survival drops to nearly impossible. Simply put, Barbara Ehrenreich’s experiment would definitely have different results if she had conducted it in the present. Given the facts of unemployment, fluctuating prices and lack of available resources, Ehrenreich’s chance of survival would be less compared to before. Today is simply a much harder time to live. We are living in a world that’s crueler than before. Surviving is much more difficult, living is truly tiring. America is now a different country, offering hope to some and none to almost everyone. Works Cited: Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By America. USA: Metropolitan Books, 2001. Hansen, Randall S. â€Å"Surviving and Moving Beyond Low-Wage Jobs: Solutions for an Invisible Workforce in America†. 14 November 2008. http://www. quintcareers. com/surviving_low-wage_jobs. html. Caplan, Jeremy and Fitzpatrick, Laura. â€Å"The Worst Jobs in America†. Time. 30 July 2007. 14 November 2008. http://www. time. com/time/business/article/0,8599,1648055,00. html? imw=Y.