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As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…
If you are unemployed in another country you could easily stay with some family member - cousin, uncle etc
This is not the case in the U.S
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Good luck getting and keeping a job when you have nowhere to shower and may be forced to relocate at any time. Oh, and the cops may come and smash or steal all of your belongings.
> Gym memberships can be had for $20/month or less, and provide a full bathroom facility for showering and grooming. The gyms near me in NYC all require a permanent address, NY state ID, and a credit card.
As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…
There are many different reasons, some articulated already by other replies. There are also some practical/pragmatic barriers. One is that if you are living on the street, any possessions are likely with you at all times. What do you do with them while working? Another is that if you are living on the street you may have involuntary hygiene issues relating to lack of access to water, clothes washing etc which may mak…
Well, someone did try building better-than-tents shelters, but LA shut him down for violating code.
As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…
I can think of two reasons:
1. I doubt those people lining up to flip burgers fall under the same definition of homelessness. I don't doubt they need a job and might not have enough/any income, but that's not a "choice" as evidenced by the line up.
2. Homelessness in developed countries is not necessarily due to a lack of job opportunities but a lot more about a lack of basic job/communication skills sometimes associated with mental health issues.
At least that's what I've realized when comparing the poor/rich countries where I've lived.
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At $420/week, federal FICA taxes are about $45. Federal income tax would be zero at this level. (Actually probably negative once you add back in the EITC)
That all depends on how you fill out that w2. While you might get that money back, more if you qualify for the EITC, most people are still going to have their taxes removed from their paycheck.
W-4 is the payroll withholding form (from employee to employer). W-2 is provided by an employer to the employee (and the IRS) at the end of the year.
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You're going to get a lot of replies indicating that the problem belongs squarely on society's shoulders (healthcare, capitalism, drugs). One cause that you will probably not see highlighted is the devaluation of autonomy and personal responsibility, and it's absolutely devastating effect on the human spirit to progress.
I would argue that the US pushes autonomy and personal responsibility much much farther than most developed countries.
As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…
1. Places like San Francisco have temperate climates, and cops not under orders to actively chase homeless people out. A good place to move if you're homeless, right? But San Francisco also has ruinously expensive housing, so the money one can make in an entry-level job won't go very far.
(American cities have a long tradition of "solving" homelessness by putting homeless people on buses to other cities. Officially, this is to "help them reunite with their families" but we all know what's really going on)
2. A bunch of things when you're poor are self-compounding. Lost your access to a stove and a fridge? You're going to be spending more on food. When you lost your home, probably you fucked up your credit rating too. Now the landlord wants a bigger deposit, and the electricity company wants you on their prepaid tariff which happens to be the most expensive one - and so on.
3. I've heard it said you don't become a rough sleeper when you spend your last dollar; you become a rough sleeper when you exhaust your last social connection. If you've lost your home but you still have sympathetic friends and family members you can become part of the 'hidden homeless' sleeping on a couch.
If factors like drug addiction or untreated mental illness, have exhausted the hospitality of friends and family, those same factors will also make employers reluctant to hire you.
As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…
In the US, that job may not offer the person any net quality-of-life improvements. Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry.
You do need to be a person who views working productively to better themselves, as net positive quality of life.
And to be fair, they need a place to shower and wash clothes. Those services should be provided, and certainly in LA and SF plenty of money has been set aside to provide that.
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Do those jobs pay so little that it is better to not have a job at all?
Panhandling can be decently lucrative. The homeless in my area have told me they make $10/hr+ panhandling which isn't much worse than any job they can get.