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Caroline Savage

Mr.Gunsher

AP Seminar

20 October 2015

Final Draft

Poverty is a never ending cycle it seems. For centuries poverty has affected the world in

many different ways. Third world countries have thousands of people living in poverty, and

malnutrition is at an all time high. Fortunately for the United States we are not a third world

country but citizens are still affected by poverty but in different ways. Have you ever been turned

down for a job because of your looks? Because of your education? Both of these issues; if you

trace it back, all come back to your wealth and your family's wealth. I feel as though your

socioeconomic status affects your life in the long run when it comes to applying for a job,

whether you like it or not.

For starters you appearance drastically affects chances of securing a job. Imagine you

walk until interview with jeans and a ripped undershirt because you unfortunately you can not

afford any better. Your appearance is the first thing your employer sees and immediately

dismisses you as a valid contender for the job due to your appearance without you speaking a

syllable. This raises the question of how your appearance impacts your job opportunities.

The average American household is 3 people. If you live under that umbrella and you

are in poverty you make on average $19,000 per year. As most of you know food and water is a

number one priority and clothes are near the bottom of this list. Although unhygienic you can go

wearing the same outfit as many day, weeks, even months as need be until they fall apart from

overuse. A study done by the United States Bureau is Statistics show that a household with a

$19,000 per year budget spend less than 3.6% of their yearly income on clothes shoes and
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personal hygienic products. That is $57 per month and roughly $19 per person. If you break

that down even further that is barely enough for shampoo other hygiene products let alone a

new outfit per month. If we bring all of this data and statistics back to the question at hand it is

very simple to see the problem. Over 45.6 million people go into job interviews wearing month

old, dirty clothing to a job interview and they are turned down immediately for their looks.

Harry Urschel has 25 years on the job and states that even though it is not completely

necessary to have designer clothes and a name brand suit and tie, you need to have a

clean-cut, put together, professional look when going in for an interview. The statistics above in

more than one way has highly suggested that finding a job is very inconvenient for low income

citizens who can not afford the proper wardrobe, which is one other way socioeconomic status

affects job opportunities.

Another problem people in poverty face is available education higher then a high school

diploma. A study done by the United States Bureau Labor of Statistics shows that

unemployment rate and lack of college education correlate directly. In 2008 if you had an

education under a high school diploma the unemployment rate was 9.0%.The higher the

education the unemployment rate keeps going down. If you have a master's degree for example

the unemployment rate is a small 2.4%, and a professional degree has an unemployment rate

of 1.7%. The problem is if you are born into poverty it seems to be a never ending circle that is

nearly impossible to get out of if you have no college education.

Another aspect of this issue is education.Another aspect of this topic is the fact that over

⅓ of poverty stricken teens drop out of high school to get a minimum wage job to support their

already struggling family.(Center for Law and Social Policy) While this solution may help the

family for the time being it hurts the teen in the long run, preventing them from crawling out of

the poverty hole they seem to never be able to climb out. According to John Bridgeland who is
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part of a large US foundation (CLASP) drop-outs are twice as likely to fall back into the circle of

poverty within a year of dropping out ,creating an unfortunate circle of events. The poverty

stricken families are never given the opportunities to drag themselves out of the unhealthy

lifestyle. In the end the lack of education (due to the low income) affects them in massive

amounts in the business community.

In conclusion poverty in the world of jobs is a very real issue in the United

States. It is almost impossible to get a job if you grew up in poverty due to the fact of the

low-income and lack of education. It almost is ironic that you need money to make money but

that statement is easily backed up by multiple evidence and data throughout my research.

"Your Looks And Your Job: Does Appearance Affect Advancement? - Career Intelligence." ​Career
Intelligence​. N.p., 06 July 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2015

"Education Level and Jobs: Opportunities by State : Career Outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics." ​U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics​. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 29
Sept. 2015.

"The Wealthy Kids Are All Right." ​The American Prospect​. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.

"Column: Wealth and Jobs: The Broken Link." ​Harvard Business Review​. N.p., 01 Nov. 2010.
Web. 29 Sept. 2015.

Individual Report - Wealth & Poverty

2 4 6

Understand Context x
Understand Argument x
Analyze Evidence x
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1 2 3

Select and use evidence x

Grammar and Style x

Comments:

Total Grade 32/40