Sean Williams
Dirt cheap: life at the wrong end of the job market is about trying to survive on jobs that most people do not give two thoughts about. The book explores the difficulties that people must face when their so called unskilled labour is the only thing that they have to offer. The book deals with not only the financial and physical costs of working low paying jobs, but also the psychological strain.
The book starts with a prologue that explains what the author, Elisabeth Wynhausen, planned to undertake. She took leave from her job as a journalist for The Australian newspaper so she could go undercover and join the ranks of those working for the minimum wage. She applied for as many non-skilled jobs as she could and planned to live solely off the low wages paid, something that millions of Australians do.
The idea for the book came from a United States book, Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America, (1) where the author took up several unskilled jobs and tried to survive on the earnings. In the U.S., the labour market is in a much more deregulated state than in Australia; some states do not even have a minimum wage. At the outset of her project Wynhausen suspected that Australia was moving to a similar situation, and expected to find that those who she was to work with would be only marginally surviving.
The body of the book is divided into six chapters, each one titled after the particular job that she worked. The chapters are not solely about the particular job; they also deal with moving between cities, as Wynhausen did to find a job in a regional area and to a different city from her home town, as well as the difficulty of finding affordable accommodation near the workplace. It ends with a short epilogue summing up her experience.
Politically, Wynhausen does not lean heavily to the left or right of the spectrum. She tends to focus on her observations and the facts (through statistics), rather than writing in any sort of political ideological style. She does tend to focus on the human effects, rather than analyse things economically, consequently there is a slight 'social' spin on her writings. She does criticise some policies of the Howard government, such as the move towards a more deregulated labour market (232), but she never attacks the government as a whole, nor does she completely dismiss the capitalist system.
The first job she comes across is in an extremely exclusive Club where the often denied existence of class is starkly apparent. The Club is a relic of a past society, you did not just need to have money to gain membership, but also had to be of suitable character and breeding before you where allowed join and pay the joining fee of $10 000 (19). The patrons of The Club do not like to be able to see into the kitchen; they do not want to see the “common people working for a living” (24). The observation by a co-worker that the only time a black person was seen in the club, they were effectively asked to leave (19), plainly shows that racism still exists. The people who work at The Club know their place in society and they see it as something inevitable.
A major issue that Wynhausen addresses is the trade off between security and a slightly higher wage that workers take when they are employed casually, as most low paid workers are (169). The problem with being employed on a casual basis is the uncertainty of not knowing when your next shift will be, as the author reveals in the chapter 'The Store'. She could be asked to work for several days straight and then not called in for another two weeks (184). The author observes that it is this uncertainty and the absense of additional benefits or job security that would make life hard to live, especially if you had a family to support.
In The Factory, Wynhausen works in an egg packing plant, here she finds the most difficult aspect of the job is her co-workers. She finds herself unable to connect with most workers, who keep to themselves. There is little, if any, camaraderie between them (56), something that is perpetuated by management in order to keep them as productive as possible
Neo-classical economic theory teaches that those on 'the wrong end of the job market' could change their position if they wanted to. They could invest in human capital which will lead to a higher wage and more favourable conditions. They can borrow money on their future earnings to help pay for this investment. If it was a worker's preference to have a higher paying job then they would have made this investment, and would not be working in low skilled jobs. The reality that is exposed in Dirt cheap is that it is not easy for those on the margin to move up to a better position. When stuck in a low paying job that barely lets you survive it is nearly impossible to even think about attaining some form of higher education. These workers are busy enough just trying to keep their heads above water.
The statistics that are sprinkled throughout the book are relevant and credible. Most of them are from newspaper articles or directly from reports. She also references books and studies on the U.S labour market to make comparisons with Australia. The statistics quoted in the book back up her experience with facts. They also help emphasise that the situation that she is in is in no way unique, that many other Australians are in similar situations and have been for years.
I find that Wynhausen provides a fairly accurate picture of life working as unskilled labour. Of course, her account does not completely simulate all hardships faced, as the author had considerable savings, no family to support and her job at the newspaper to fall back on. Despite this, the often unexposed suffering of menial labourers is thoroughly explored and it surprised me at just how skilled all of these jobs are.
Essentially, what the author is saying is not that it is impossible to live under minimum wage conditions, but it is certainly not very pleasant, and there is much room for improvement. Management often drains staff and pays incorrectly, which is illegal, and yet widespread. Wynhausen sees Australia’s job market as no where near as harsh as the USA’s. However she does find that as we head in that direction, those at the very bottom, those who are so often forgotten, may go from barely surviving to not at all.