The New American - College Educated, Working Four Jobs and Broke

Is this the new America?  Forbes profiled one guy in the heartland of America and look at this, he is college educated, able, working a ridiculous number of jobs and has no money.

Bingham is 37 years old and has a college degree, but like many Americans, is stuck working many hours in low wage, part-time jobs. Each week, he works a total of about 60 hours in his jobs as a massage therapist, a waiter at a Mexican restaurant, a delivery man for sandwich chain Jimmy John's and a receptionist at his massage school He brings home about $400 a week, or $20,000 per year.

They posted Bingham's work schedule and look at the insanity of this.  Imagine just trying to get to each job and schedule those hours.  Notice the low restaurant wage.  These jobs are one of few where it is perfectly legal to pay below minimum wage by claiming workers make up the difference in tips.  The food industry lobbyists have worked very hard to keep this exemption from federal minimum wage laws and is a huge reason restaurant work pays so low.

- 24 hours waiting tables at Mexican restaurant Taco Republic. He makes tips plus $2.13, which is the federal minimum wage for tipped employees, like waiters.

-30 hours delivering sandwiches for Jimmy John's, which pays him $7.35 an hour, plus tips.

-3 one-hour massages, for a total of $60.

-9 hours as a receptionist at his former massage school. (The amount of money he makes working at the school isn't included in his $400 weekly pay, since it goes directly to repay $9,500 worth of student loans.)

There are an estimated 7.7 million people stuck in part-time work because that's all they can get. or they got their hours cut due to not enough business.  That's an increase of approximately three million people since before the great recession of 2008.  Welcome to the new America.

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