Chutes and Ladders: Navigating the Low-Wage Labor Market Book

A well designed, executed, and written story of a decade-long longitudinal study on low-wage workers and the surprising, inspiring ascents of some of them. I liked Newman's writing style: thorough and clear without being dry or politically correct and apologetic, humane and colorful without a bleeding-heart feel to it. The author is honest, admitting when she observed an outcome she didn't necessarily expect.

I wish I'd found this before I wrote my dissertation. If you or anyone you know will be designing, conducting, and writing up qualitative research, this book is a must read no matter your subject area. Pay attention to the Appendix and Chapter 5, in which a larger, more robust set of quantitative data is examined and compared to the qualitative results from the author's smaller sample.

Newman helpfully illustrates overarching findings with quotations from study subjects, which make this research-based story richer and "humanizes" the data. Hearing these workers in their own words help to convincingly disrupt common stereotypes about low-wage workers and black Americans in particular. A few such stereotypes I remember from my own upbringing in Detroit are: "They like being on welfare, they don't want to work" and "Don't they know they shouldn't have children?" and "They don't even want an education." Even if you, like me, already know that such beliefs are not based in fact, the life stories and survey data presented here will convince you of this at a deeper, more substantiated level.

I was surprised about the strength of the connection between union-wage jobs and workers staying off of public assistance, as well as the importance of kin networks to making survival possible.

If you are or have been a low-wage worker yourself, be prepared for an especially emotional read. I had "a moment" when I realized that, during the period of this study, I qualified as a low-wage worker and fit almost perfectly (save for being white and in Detroit instead of Harlem) into the study sample. I spent a lot of time thinking back to the frustration of a time when I had three jobs but made $16,000/year and thus "too much" to qualify for most kinds of aid, as well as a full time undergraduate course load I needed loans (that I'm still paying for!) to afford. Even though the study was qualitative, my experience had me thinking "I can anecdotally attest to the veracity of that result."

If you truly care about this topic, you'll find this a refreshing, fact-filled account instead of the usual political and media hyperbole.