A dirty work environment can negatively impact a business by reducing productivity, affecting employee morale, and potentially causing illness. Unhealthy employees are not productive enough to perform well at the office, leading to decreased productivity. To address this issue, businesses should focus on maintaining well-kept floors. Clean floors allow employees to concentrate on their work without being affected by health problems. Cluttered spaces can also have negative effects on stress, anxiety levels, focus, eating choices, and sleep.
Dirty floors can negatively impact employees’ health by becoming a hotbed for germs, bacteria, and other harmful substances. Common surfaces that become dirtiest include taps, microwaves, computer keyboards, and fridge doors. Open-plan and shared-desk workplaces can lead to workers in open-plan spaces being more susceptible to these issues.
A clean office can improve productivity by cutting down on sick days and reducing the risk of slip and fall accidents. Dirty floors can put employees’ health at risk, reduce productivity and affect performance, and may damage the brand. Additionally, dirty floors can increase the risk of slip and fall accidents, as employees may need to spend more time at home recuperating. Increased sick time can cost a company and negatively impact productivity and the air quality.
A clean office can enhance concentration, reduce stress levels, and increase overall productivity. Dirty floors set a poor first impression, compromise the company’s reputation, and can deter staff from reporting to work. They can also be a distraction for concentration and focus, demotivating employees.
In conclusion, having a clean office can significantly improve productivity by reducing stress, promoting employee morale, and preventing slip and fall accidents. By addressing these issues, businesses can create a healthier and more productive work environment for their employees.
📹 How CLEANING helps MENTAL HEALTH and PRODUCTIVITY..
This UNFOLD video is going to show how cleaning helps mental health. I wanted to understand how cleaning helps with …
Can a messy house make you tired?
Clutter can negatively impact our anxiety levels, sleep, focus, productivity, and relationships. It can also trigger coping strategies, leading to unhealthy snacking habits and watching TV shows about decluttering. Research shows that our physical environments significantly influence our cognition, emotions, and behaviors, including our relationships with others. Disorganization and clutter can have a cumulative effect on our brains, making it essential to clear out and organize our spaces effectively.
What happens if you never clean floor?
House cleaning is crucial for maintaining a clean and germ-free environment, as bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, molds, and pests thrive in dirty, stale environments. Many people place great importance on house cleaning, especially when a member of their household has recently been sick. The worst thing that can happen if a house is not cleaned is a decrease in productivity, increased stress, and potential health issues. Hiring West Los Angeles house cleaning services can help maintain a clean and germ-free environment for both individuals and their loved ones.
Does cleanliness affect productivity?
A clean workplace significantly impacts productivity by boosting employee morale, reducing stress, and fostering a positive work attitude. A well-organized workspace is not just about aesthetics; it also enhances efficiency. CCS, pioneers in commercial office cleaning services, understands the connection between an immaculate workspace and increased efficiency. Request a commercial cleaning quote to transform your workspace, enhancing hygiene and appearance. Our professional services cover offices and retail spaces, ensuring a well-organized and efficient environment.
Does cleaning your room increase productivity?
Maintaining a clean house is crucial for various reasons, including eliminating bad smells, boosting mood, and increasing productivity. Despite the seemingly insurmountable task of cleaning, the psychological benefits of a clean room make the extra effort worthwhile. Four benefits of a clean room include a boost in confidence, a source of physical activity, cleaner indoor air, and better sleep. Therefore, keeping a tidy house is essential for overall well-being and productivity.
What happens if you never vacuum your house?
Regular vacuuming is crucial for maintaining a clean and healthy home. It helps remove dirt and dust embedded in carpets, rugs, and upholstery, which dusting cannot. Vacuuming also prevents particles from being stirred up in the air, ensuring a more complete and effective cleaning process. In summary, vacuuming is a more effective method than dusting in maintaining a clean and healthy home.
Is a messy room ADHD?
ADHD can be a condition characterized by disorganization, difficulty focusing, and forgetfulness. Symptoms include difficulty with impulse control, sitting still, fidgeting, interrupting others, excessive talking, impatience, missing details, and frequent mistakes. However, it’s possible to be disorganized without ADHD, as factors like a busy schedule, life stresses, other mental health conditions, or lack of tidiness can cause a messy room. More symptoms are required for an ADHD diagnosis.
Do successful people have messy rooms?
Researchers at Northwestern University have found that individuals who maintain disorderly workspaces tend to exhibit enhanced creative abilities and accelerated problem-solving times when confronted with creative challenges.
Is it OK to not clean your house?
Polluted air vents, untidy filters, soiled bedding, and the presence of dust mites, insects, pests, vermin, and other animals can contribute to the development of air pollution, skin rashes, allergic reactions, asthma, and respiratory problems. The presence of insects, rodents, and other animals can facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases. Ingestion of food items that have exceeded their recommended shelf life or have been exposed to mold may result in the ingestion of bacterial contaminants, leading to the development of food poisoning.
Does clutter make you less productive?
Clutter can negatively impact our anxiety levels, sleep, focus, productivity, and relationships. It can also trigger coping strategies, leading to unhealthy snacking habits and watching TV shows about decluttering. Research shows that our physical environments significantly influence our cognition, emotions, and behaviors, including our relationships with others. Disorganization and clutter can have a cumulative effect on our brains, making it essential to clear out and organize our spaces effectively.
Does a messy room affect productivity?
Clutter can negatively impact mental health and productivity, as a clean workspace enhances emotional satisfaction and productivity. Studies have shown that clutter in the home can affect mental health, while disorganized workspaces can cause anxiety and reduce focus. A study found that excessive visual stimulation restricts the brain’s ability to process information, as the mind is a computer that must tabulate all sensory experiences, including sight. As visual clutter increases, the brain’s ability to focus on important tasks decreases due to limited mental capacity. Therefore, a clean workspace is essential for mental health and productivity.
Is it better to have a clean or messy room?
A study by the Association for Psychological Science found that messiness and cleanliness have different benefits in terms of education and productivity. Messy rooms led to more creative and interesting ideas, while clean rooms were more likely to follow expectations. While messy rooms can be enjoyable, it’s important to make choices to combat the messiness after creative time. Organizing your study space can give you a sense of completion and fulfillment.
The National Sleep Foundation suggests that de-cluttering and creating a dark, clean space can improve sleep. Papers and clutter can make you feel restless and affect your sleep. Making your bed every morning is 19% more likely to get a good night’s sleep. If you have allergies, consider dusting your room to improve your sleep and comfort. Additionally, tidying up before bed can help improve sleep, which is crucial for college students.
📹 Why is it so hard to escape poverty? – Ann-Helén Bay
Explore the paradox of welfare programs, and learn how they inadvertently reinforce generational poverty, and what we can do to …
I watch British Obsessive Cleaning shows to inspire me to clean. It works as I realize I could do a lot better than vacuum once a week. Now I’m up to 2-3 times a week. Those people vacuum twice a day and dust for hours a day. Their surfaces are so clean, you can eat off it. Learning from Konmari and Fly Lady tips has really helped me. Then there is Swedish death cleaning. YouTube and Pinterest has helped so much. I keep a cleaning calendar and write what I do each day to keep track of what needs to get done.
This hit home…I remember being excited when I wouldn’t need assistance anymore. Until I finished paying bills. Then I wasn’t excited. Lived on white rice and salt for flavor for months. As I worked on very little food I lost weight and seemed to be weaker every week. My job got more difficult. I worked at a grocery store. I remember the exact day that I became hungry enough and desperate enough to steal food. I worked in the meat department and we threw away hundreds of pounds of meat every other day. Things that were close to date but perfectly fine. It was the week of Thanksgiving and we were getting our asses kicked. All I could think about was I was going to be eating white rice for Thanksgiving. I couldn’t take it anymore. I went to the throwaway cart, put a couple steaks under my beltline and punched for break. I walked straight to my car an put them in the trunk. (It was winter) To this day I don’t regret it. I was starving. Thank you past generations for the great place you left us 👍 Bang up job.
In Canada, when a person on welfare gets a job, their benefits are clawed back as a percentage of their income. A $500 increase in your income might result in a $100 decrease in your benefits, for example. This way, having a job is always better than not having one, and an increase in wages is always advantageous. Welfare benefits like free medication are also available until you reach a point where your welfare benefits reach 0, and you no longer need this help.
I worked at mcdonalds in high school and college. I always, always had coworkers who would say they could not take any more hours because it would screw up their benefits (and while a reduction can hit immediately, an increase in benefits might take 6 months, so one anomalous paycheck could hit them particularly hard). BUT, these people frequently worked anyway, clocking out and taking home food in lieu of wages. Usually. Sometimes they just clocked out and kept working without the bonus food because they were worried about their job. I always had this story in rebuttal to anyone who said people on benefits were lazy. They were working, and working more than they were paid for.
I still remember the day, where I couldn’t find job so I was on government assistance, but when I told them I was planning to go to trade school they said well we can’t help, you either stay poor and no job or find a bare minimum job, in both situations I stayed poor, I was penalized because I wanted a better life. Keep in mind that trade school is very accessible and cheap, has high demand after you finish and it’s usually 2 years and under it means that if I was able to get help to finish that school it’s win for everyone but no, they want you to be poor. I eventually had to work illegally and get paid next to nothing just so I can finish school, was literally getting paid less than the government assistance just so I can go to school.
This is a reality for me, I don’t have to imagine this scenario. I live on SSI and I can’t get a job bc I’m disabled and I’m getting assistance for it, but it’s still hard. If I get a too good paying job, then I don’t get any gov’t assistance; if I don’t get a well paying job, then I still need go’t assistance. And for something that I can’t control; my disability.
I am so immensely grateful for my parents. My dad was the only income and we were lower class barely making it through for a long time. After working for years he got the detrimental raises and promotions that finally let us live a very comfortable life in middle class. I am so grateful for the things he did to make sure I had a healthy and safe childhood.
It must also be said that welfare benefits are especially vicious to disabled people. My mother is partially incapable of keeping a job due to mental issues, but doesn’t qualify for benefits because she’s been out of work for more than 5 years. Even if she were to get these benefits, as soon as she makes enough money, they would pull the rug out from under her, as if her mental issues didn’t exist. This is even more obvious for people with physical disabilities. Just because a disabled person is making a halfway decent amount of money, it doesn’t mean they can suddenly walk, or have typical motor control, or their brain suddenly just put all the wires in the same place as everyone else. They’re still disabled, and the cost of living for a disabled person is often much higher than the average person.
The best way to understand poverty is by experience it yourself(I know, its not plausible). I live in rural poor neighborhood in developing/third world country, there is no solution as one size fit all, it depends on the people itself. Many people act like “woke” with this topic but doesn’t necessarily understand what it’s really like. Don’t get me wrong, it also apply to me. After all, we already have too much at hand to also care about other. Many believe we should educate instead of just giving money, but the truth is more practical than that and need immediate and direct measure that actually necessary to keep their live going. Poor people think short term(I don’t mean it as a bad thing, it’s just what’s necessary to them.
In Denmark 🇩🇰 we don’t have poverty at all. The government will take care of you if you lose your job. How? 1. Government will give you monthly salary of 1400$ after tax. That’s if you’re single. If you have a kid it will increase to 1700$ 2. They will help the citizen to apply for new job or an education. 3. They will give the citizen plenty of options to choose between jobs. – If you work, you’ll pay tax, when you pay tax you pay the government back and they pay you back again. All this with free healthcare and free education which is two of the most important aspects in life.
I used to work a full time job in Greece for EUR 420/ month. Just barely enough to live on, but I couldn’t afford rent, got support from my family. My next job actually paid enough that i could rent a house and live comfortably. I’m not the same person after that job. People that haven’t had this experience will never understand the anxiety that comes with it. Even i think i barely understand my past self.
My concern with a UBI is that we would have to make sure people didn’t just raise rent and prices to match. For instance, my mother is on disability, social security, and lives in government housing. Every time she gets an increase in those benefits, her rent goes up to match. Add to that, since she has “more income”, the amount of food stamps she receives goes down. It’s a losing game.
I feel like they skipped over the “provide benefits like childcare, medical care, and education” part a little fast. There are some costs that really shouldn’t be shouldered by individuals at all. Most insurance should be public and universal, heath insurance particularly. Public transportation should be robust enough that people can get to their jobs without significant waits. There are all kinds of things that contribute to cost of living (and thereby poverty) that it would be more efficient and more beneficial to do at a community or societal level. Not to mention that taking such burdens off people gives them more time and energy to better themselves/look for better jobs/get promotions/raises. Climbing out of poverty is hard on its own, but there’s no reason people should have to do it with 20 pound weights around their ankles.
One thing that is generally ignored, swept under the rug, or not taken into consideration, is that benefits to the working poor are not so much a means of getting people back into the workforce as a means of subsidizing the rich by forcing the poor to accept starvation wages instead of forcing employers to pay First World wages in the First World countries where they make their money.
That one frame at 1:53 when parent penguin is looking at the empty fridge and then at the expecting baby penguin broke my heart. Reminds me the same exact memory that’s burned in my brain from our poverty days and I was the baby. My family worked really hard to get us all out of that state. I’m thankful but also compassionate to anybody else who maybe struggling right now.
“Only by empowering individuals to create long-term change in their lives and their communities can we begin to break the cycle of poverty.” Empowering individuals starts with education. Period. Edit: Most people assumed I meant college and university; I am referring to primary education, especially quality elementary, middle school, kindergarten, and Pre-K education. Improved Pre-k education especially would take the burden off of working families and increase access to books for children. We have a lot of ground to cover in improving our educational system, and it may even need a drastic remodel.
I have recently fallen into homelessness. I still get help from the government and I’m lucky enough to have a warm place at enough, but I still can’t find a job nor find a new home to stay at. It’s a really difficult situation to get out of and most people at the local shelter have been there for years. I wish the government could help us more directly into recovering from this situation then actually just giving us money to get through the month and then tell us to just find a way on our own.
The issue and why even tho we know this won’t be enough to change it is the idea that profit wins over anything, neoliberalism is the idea that private corporations are the only ones that know how to get stuff done, it was pushed so hard that the only good education was private, good health care was private which are the main things that can change the future of a person. Suddenly you needed money to stop being poor and you remained poor for not being able to afford good education
Wages must rise! In 2022, had the minimum wage kept up with inflation since 1979, the minimum wage today would be $34 an hour. The skyrocketing cost of healthcare, which bankrupt many people even though they have health insurance, secondary education, and housing, especially on the west and east coast of the United States, and the fact that wages have been stagnant and that the rich have been funneling wealth to themselves at the expense of everybody else and now CEOs earn 300 times what their average employees are in when it used to be only 20 times in the late 70s, means that the rich are getting richer and everybody else is falling into poverty. We must push back against the lies by the rich of trickle down economics and push back against their propaganda networks on Fox. I don’t think that a universal basic income should be given to people who are earning over $100,000 a year because they don’t need it. If they fall below $50,000 a year in income, then they can apply to get a universal basic income until they are able to earn a living wage again.
I’m all for these programs and agree with the article. It’s actually expensive to be poor. My only concern with universal income is that it could easily be defeated by everyone raising prices. I.e. if you currently rent an apartment for $700/month and a $500 universal income comes into effect tomorrow, what’s to stop landlords from increasing the rent to $1300/month? But again, I’m no economist and have no idea how this would work. I’m not against trying it since whatever we have now is not working anyways.
I grew up in poverty i hated it poverty is the worst dont wish it on my worst enemies i feel for all the people like me going through this even as a kid i struggled in life and got money anxiety from my upbringing cause most of my parents couldnt afford things and saved and we wirried about money alot i got depression early on as a child because of being in poverty because i didnt like being poor and was better off if i ended myself so i didnt have to worry about money its hard being poor to solve this poor people need to stop having kids thats why i dont have any if you do then the cycle continues yes its hard to get out of poverty compared someone who isnt but it takes alot of will power and resilience and discipline and to be educated on money
I think we could break the cycle of poverty if we address ableism and the insane mass accumulation of wealth and resources certain individuals have because of inhumane unethical practices built on exploitation. Just saying. There is no “working out of poverty” when you can’t work…you are left to die.
When you live in a poor neighborhood, you are living in an area where you have poor schools. When you have poor schools, you have poor teachers. When you have poor teachers, you get a poor education. When you get a poor education, you can only work in a poor-paying job. And that poor-paying job enables you to live again in a poor neighborhood. So, it’s a very vicious cycle – Malcolm X ✊
Add to the mix: all the media newspieces about some really poor boy somewhere who studied under a lamppost after, I don’t know, a tsunami took his house, and managed a great position in some company or public service… And then all the very comfortable high/middle class people perusal that on TV and deciding that every poor person no matter what should be exactly like him.
I’m not an economist but I can imagine this in my country which is considered a “developing” country. Despite the basic minimum wage increases over the years, there are still many poor people. It’s going to remain the same if along with the increase in salary, prices of basic necessities and commodities also continuously increase. The most effective way, I think, is by upgrading education and destroying corruption and cartels. People can then have better access to their needs if the prices can be lowered and people can grow their own sources of income.
This article gives me so many thoughts, Born in a poor family teaches me how to use my money properly and learn how to escape the poverty, but somehow we can’t run away from it, at least now due to some reasons. Most of them are social benefits provided to working families and yes, both my parents are blue workers so they don’t receive any Government’s supplies
I left the military at 26 and started getting $1200 a month. It helped me go to school on the old GI Bill that wasn’t so good, and then I got my degree and started a professional job, but the pay wasn’t great. However, I still got the money to supplement the cheap employers, and then tried a few things before landing the right job and now make over $100k while receiving another $25k in VA pension income.
I’m a huge fan of the idea of UBI. Even more as automation obsoletes more and more jobs. Right now there is 3.5 MILLION truck drivers in the USA. It’s very obvious they are about to be phased out with self driving trucks over the next 30 years. Is the learn to code thing accurate for them? I can go down the list but it’s likely over the next 50 years we will see most jobs be on the verge if not 100% replaced by some automation. Sure there will always be some truckers, lawyers, accountants, retail people, etc. Just like how there still is people on horse back in extremely remote parts of first world countries like the USA. But you’re talking about maybe enough to count on your hands if not slightly more. Like it is something when you might go from 3.5 million truck drivers to maybe 20 or 30 that drive in extreme remote areas AI isn’t good at driving YET. And unlike other types of obsolete, we are obsoleting the human. But we are are a live. So what happens to us? How would companies even sell to us if no one really has work to get income? These things have to be figured out.
As a disabled worker on benefits (before covid took my job) I can attest how accurate this article is. With my warnings between $10-$13/hr I realized I could’ve made more from benefits had I just accepted my disability and stayed out of the work force- I likely earned only a mere $100 more a month than if I’d not worked- but I stuck to it for the measly lure of refund checks during tax time and whatever pitiful bonuses (i.e. vacation pay, Christmas bonus, etc) I could get from my employer. At the end of the day working hardly kept me out of poverty but at least it gave me a chance to build some type of work history, get out of the grungy apartment I’m stuck in and make a little more dough- emphasis on LITTLE. Capitalism as it is sucks.
I have notices my family got better and better with each generation because though they were poor and came from the highlands they were able to make constant good decisions based on the reality of their situation. I am lucky to be born with parents that cared about giving me education and sith that I continued to make good decisions. Life is not easy but making good decisions do help. Most of the environment I know really didn’t. Had kids early without preparation and planning, didn’t pursue education and put party’s first. My family was very encouraging and helped me look at life with a fighting spirit.
With universal basic income, corporate housing will simply raise the rent since now everyone have more money. You seen this in student loan: when the government started provide more accessible student loans, tuitions in higher education skyrocketed. Part time job during college used to pay the bill; now, you can barely afford textbooks.
I remember I decided I was gonna be self-sufficient. I walked away from a stable life on section -8 and food stamps but I worked. I’ve basically been homeless ever since. That was 20 years ago. I’m still homeless. Becoming self-sufficient is harder than you know. Especially if you were never given the tools and values to fight for a better life. It’s nobody’s fault, but a little encouragement helps. I even came up with a solution to my poverty but don’t have the wherewithal to apply it to my life. Finally, I’ve reached early retirement age. I have a financial foundation but will still live beneath the poverty line. However, I have also learned that the Good Life is an attitude. Nevertheless, everyone who works should be able to make ends meet with something leftover to enjoy life!
I remember a friend in Germany, she was given a student loan by the government and had it bad enough to be qualified for the maximum amount. We both worked at the same tech company the maximum allowed hours (just 15h per week for me and 5 for her, the job paid really well and you earn more you’ll lose your student status and not be eligible for benefits. I could work/earn more because I’m from a different country with higher thresholds). At the end we were both given a really nice bonus for our work. About a months worth of rent. And my friend had to turn it down, because it was above her annual threshold. Luckily we were able to work around the system a bit. It was close to new years and so they switched her last day of work to the first of january. But if that hadn’t been the case she would just have lost the money. Also loosing student status is really bad. Because then you are no longer insured via your parents and no longer eligible for student tariffs with public transport, various entrance fees (museums, cinema, sports, …) or student homes. The maximum monthly income for students in Germany is 450€. The average rent 350€-530€ (where we studied). So unless you are eligible for student credit or have parents helping you out you are in trouble. In comparison my maximum monthly income for students was 1250€ (Austria). Average rent is about the same in my home country. And in my country you aren’t given a government credit, but a stipend, so no requirement to pay it back. Plus extra payment if your marks are great.
Two sides to this. One: people who believe that a person should receive more reward for more work. Second: everyone should receive a livable wage no matter the work for humanitarian reasons. Quite frankly it’s a tough decision. I understand both situations and wish both could somehow exist side by side. Yet, we live in an imperfect world. I think there will never be one answer as people are complex, non uniform beings. Some dont want to be on poverty aids while others love the idea of free money. It’s a situation that has no perfect answer. To tell the truth, I favor the system where you have a choice. People deserve choice. So if we can find a way to get people above poverty without eliminating their options that would be best.
Your childhood to teenage experience will have a huge contribution in your future, if you live in a poor and abusive environment you will become traumatized when you reach adulthood making you unable to succeed in life and high chance that you will fall into a depression that leads to poor health, poor health leads to poverty.
I taught in the public schools for 23 years and watched kids volunteer for poverty. Otherwise bright and capable kids threw away the greatest gift society could give them, a free education. Many came to my class two or more years behind their classmates in reading. I was able to help the ones who wanted it. Others fell further behind. By contrast I had Burmese kids who spent the previous year or two in a refugee camp in Thailand. They knew real poverty. They spoke almost no English on the first day of school. They came to help sessions at lunch. They came after school. They worked incredibly hard. Their parents worked the kind of jobs few Americans want to do anymore. Sometimes both parents worked two jobs. Of the 20 or so Burmese kids who came through my school, every single one of them graduated.
It is really impressive that you were able to deftly avoid saying the word “capitalism” once during this article, and frame the entire issue as related to government benefits. “Hmmm, people who work don’t earn enough money to survive and do better on the measly welfare offered by the State? Can’t be the fault of their kind hearted employers, must be a problem with welfare.”
I was in deep poverty for two years between 2011-2013 in NYC. If it wasn’t for government subsidies like unemployment, food stamps, welfare, medicaid, and others, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now making six figures. I’m convinced I would’ve been stuck as “working poor,” if I didn’t have the time and training to pursue higher paying careers during that time period.
if you wanna escape poverty youre gonna have to start your own business (sounds easy right?) but then you’d have to consider the question, “can I still get back up if my business idea fails”? this is the main roadblock of poverty, NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO FAIL. if you have the guts to do it then by all means, go ahead. and i wish you luck.
It’s not hard to escape poverty, but one generation has to make sacrifices, so the another generation can lift off the burden of poorness, my grandfather is the hero of my family, he worked so hard and takes risk in his life he barely took vacations the man never fulfill his personal hobbies and dreams, he likes traveling so much but always skip because he wanted to work more, by the time of his death we were prosperous, still are, it is the blessings of my grandpa, he inspired me to work so hard so i can buy my favorite house and favorite car, or anything, focus and belief is important in life
middle class are the ultimate losers in all this. The very high income people can take advantage of tax loop holes and tax deduction to reduce their true income. People below certain poverty levels are encouraged to stay there and NOT work to continue their welfare benefits. So who pays?? Middle class, who aren’t wealthy enough to circumvent taxes, and lifestyle just above poverty level but requires them to work work work for it.
Hard thresholds usually work poorly. What about designing welfare programs in a way that the help you receive is only reduced 0.5X for every +X you receive from work? So you only get fully out of welfare once you make twice the base welfare income. It’s a linear function that adapts to the persons situation. This would keep people motivated to work, while still not let them starve to death.
The solution my government has come up with (and mind that I’m by no means arguing it’s a perfect one) is compensating people over time not worked or income not received. Even if you’re earning minimum wage, this should be enough to offset the benefits of not working at all. Because the amount of welfare income you’re missing out on will always be less than or equal to what you’re earning working. Also paying people less than minimum wage isn’t something you can get away with here like you can in the US, so that’s not a problem either. This of course does not take into account e.g. extra costs associated with working, but it does avoid a large part of the problem in an elegant way. For instance, imagine I’m getting a welfare income of minimum wage, calculated over a standard 40h work week. Then I get a job that I can work 20h a week that pays slightly above minimum wage. I’ll still get my welfare income, but it’s calculated over the remaining 20h, so I’m earning more than I was before. Similarly, you could compensate people over income not received. In that case, the government would supplement your income up to minimum wage. Your paycheque is subtracted from your welfare income so the amount of money you get is the same until you start earning more than minimum wage. It’s perhaps not trivial to implement a perfect solution, but it’s not all that hard for the US to improve even just a little. Large parts of the population are just a single unexpected medical bill away from poverty, thanks to its also abysmal healthcare system.
this life doesn’t feel real anymore, the disassociation that comes after owning money to so many debt collectors for so long is that makes you think so negative. i had work and work to pay up and i’m still in the same place as two years ago. i never thought i’ll believe that sometimes being unalived is the only way that you’ll feel relief. losing everything is not joke, getting my car taken away and a percentage of my wages as well is crazy. i’m still hoping to be debt free by 2030 or with the lotto.
This is a complex issue. Some states do bare minimum, especially the southern states. I am originally from Ohio and grew up on the system until age 11, however during that time my mother was able to escape poverty and find a middle income job with minimal education. I will give you an example of how bad it is, In Ohio the maximum unemployment you can get as a single person is 475 week and in Alabama is 275 week. Like what the heck is 275 gonna do? I could give plenty of other examples, but I digress. We need to have uniform programs across the nation and political stances should not be a factor in providing care in order for ppl to progress. The nation does bare minimum and act like they are doing great things. Like why are we the richest nation and yet do not have universal healthcare?
Your article is only about the USA, and other similar countries. I’m from Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 and in this country there is no benefit paid to the unemployed. If you don’t work, you will basically starve to death. I obtained my BS from the USA, and I noticed that a lot of things that are generally discussed in the USA do not suit other countries in the world. So, I think it is crucial to point which country you are talking about in such articles. You don’t know who is perusal your article. Ted articles are pretty popular and has a good reputation. However, only now, when I have lived for 7 years in Kazakhstan after leaving the USA, and I had lived in the USA for 6 years to learn English and to obtain my I undergraduate degree, I realised that a lot of things discussed in Ted, in other reputable sources such as the Economist, etc. can be applied to the USA only. Other countries, such as post-soviet countries need different discussions. Therefore, it could have been respectful of you, if you had mentioned which part of the world you are talking about when you are discussing about poverty, or the benefits received from government. P.S. I’m not upset or dissatisfied with my own life here. I love my country. People here are hardworking, hospitable, and genuinely helpful to each other.
“imagine that you are unemployed and been searching job for months” BOI i don’t have to Imagine. I’m 29. Graduated last year. Unemployed. Living with my parents. I throw my CV everywhere at this point…I don’t even have access to government help cause I am not “poor enough”. I have no hope anymore. Im just tired.
I have developed that there is an idea that there is the Poverty Paradox that as you make more money you tend to spend more to be able to keep up with it. Not to mention that inflation seems to bring fourth higher prices but not higher wages. The system seems to favor all but the poor due to us living off the government and not contributing much to taxes. We are left to be dependent on the government until we are able to break the loop through the act of someone else.
UBI is honestly the way to a better society in my eyes. As a vet I earned the disability benefits & housing/schooling benefits I have and to be honest it’s the only thing keeping me afloat while I carve new ways to earn income outside the military! I can’t see y every one should have that same safety net! I think it’s a human right to have the ability to participate in society. Majority want to but pay is too low in many jobs to survive and provide, and a lot turn to the only thing they have left, crime! Human beings will do what they have to to survive and we punish that rather than change laws to make sure everyone has a fair shake. I see nothing wrong with less crime, less homelessness, cleaner streets, healthier and more educated ppl. Less time wasted on survival and more time spent making connections, communities, families, self improvement.
the problem is employers refusing to pay their workers a proper wage because capitalism incentivizes it. the same capitalism that dictates that we live in a world where profits take precedent over human lives the quote used at the beginning of the article was said by nelson mandela, he was a socialist and he knew this
I remember when I had finally gotten a job that offered me more money. Employers had been paying me just above minimum wage despite the fact I was working in a professional field. That year, I not only lost assistance that helped me pay for daycare and food, but I had to start paying for health insurance so I was worse off than when I made less money per hour with no benefits. I lived this way for almost 5 years until I finally went up again in my income and got married (which helped me with daycare and the cost of living). During those years, I was always 1 paycheck away from eviction and had to skip on bills in order to buy food. It was the first time I had ever considered earning money through illegitimate means and possibly stripping just to buy Christmas and birthday presents. The only thing I learned from those days was how hard and unfair life can be and how cruel humans are.
those are all okay-good solutions but none of them actually tackle the root of the problem, a solution that would actually do that is: workers get paid the full or atleast very near the full amount of the value they created with the labour they put in (rather than what happens now in most places which is that workers get a small portion of the value).
I was on welfare for a while and once I got a job my life became considerably more difficult, as I had then lost a lot of the benefits that came with being on welfare (less fees etc.). I knew a few people that simply refused to actually look for work because they didn’t feel it was worth it, or simply believed that is wasn’t worth their time, or too much of a risk regarding their financial stability.
Having assistance slowly phase out as income increases makes the most sense to me. It is honestly insane that you can be in poverty 1 second getting assistance barely getting by and then get a mere $0.20 raise and all of a sudden you make too much and all that assistance is gone leaving you in a worst spot.
UBI sounds good. My question is what prevents the market prices from rising to the point where the value of that income to be virtually zero? As in if rent costs $750 and you get a UBI of $10,000, and in response the prices raise to $7500 along with the other extraneous costs of living going another zero in the decimal point. Will it account for growing population too, which would factor into inflation? Will it also be taxed?
That’s exactly what happens with socialist countries or governments they foster poverty so they hook people up on subsidies instead of creating actual wealth. Laziness is also a disease that affects most to those with lower incomes which are precisely the people who gets subsidized the most. It’s almost impossible for those people to escape such a conundrum
An entirely alternate solution is to have a minimum wage sufficiently higher than the income that qualifies you for assistance. Most modern economies are largely market driven in nature with a handful of people pocketing a large fraction of the wealth. Making business owners pay their workers justly is the first step to removing poverty. Charity and unemployment “benefits” will never be the cure to the problem. The cure will have to come from an equitable distribution of the spoils of production.
I think Universal Basic Income is closer than ever cuz in the next 5yrs automation and AI will skyrocket and many ppl will lose their jobs… Taxi driver job lost to self driving car Waiter job lost to robots Factory jobs again lost to robots Etc. So we will soon be experiencing drastic changes in the upcoming years
I’ve always been told by people that adding universal income or increasing minimum wage would only succeed in lowering the value of the currency and that it wouldn’t actually do any good. Is that something you can just outrun by continually increasing the income/wage? Can you address this in a future article? It’d be cool to hear about countries that pulled off things like that successfully.
Imagine that you’ve been unemployed for YEARS! Since your regular wages guarantee you qualify for maximum EDD (CA) benefits are no comparison to what you are used to living on, you are unable to pay your bills. These benefits are so high that you ‘make’ too much to qualify for public assistance. So you spend 1/5 of your productive working years unemployed or working entry level jobs. Enter my world. Silver lining, I used the system to screw the man out of over $300,000! cheers!
Here’s an idea, correct me if i made a mistake. Employment dosent only give you money but also opens various other opportunities, for example, since you’re employed, you’re now eligible for a loan and now you can use the acquired loan to build a new skill or invest. I think the welfare funds offer you an opportunity to grow/make progress and not sustainabily feed you.
Some people who are poor, decided to have more children than no children at all. Parents who are poor, uses their children as an investment to escape poverty. They use the “Family Oriented Culture” and “Debt of Gratitude” as chain to be tied up to their children and as an excuse to forced children to help their parents. It is both a blessing and a curse.
Living in a country where there is nothing like welfare, it always fascinates me to see people complain about welfare being stopped when they start working. Our government never gives you free money, not even during lockdown (we ignored the lockdowns and kept working because corona might eventually kill you, but hunger will CERTAINLY kill you.) Being on welfare gives you time, if you use that resource well, you can turn your life around. When there is no welfare, you either succeed or you die, there is no safety net, maybe knowing that there is no plan B is the ultimate motivation. I went through 3 burnouts in the last 5 years working and studying up to 20 hours/day to have a better situation. If I had the welfare option, things would have been a lot easier.
When you get paid SO LITTLE for the time you spend working that you can’t cover the cost of a place to live, food, and power, that is the real problem. If the government help programs gave you just enough to subsist on, but all forms of employment gave you MORE than basic subsistence, there wouldn’t be a problem because getting a job would always be worth it. But dispassionate rampant capitalism has made our system where no employer wants to pay more than the absolute bare minimum for most jobs, and even then they try to SQUEEZE those workers to do far more than they should have to while they are on the clock. And while the corporate higher ups can’t legally tell them to cut corners, it’s basically an open secret in nearly all organizations among their management that you have to cut corners in order to maintain the corporate expectations for output. People are overworked and underpaid, and corporations will never fix this on their own because from their perspective there is an unlimited number of unemployed drones looking for work, they have to be forced to take care of their employees by law and only the government can fix that problem. Make working actually worth it, then all these issues will go away.
i’m considered youth in Los Angeles and experiencing homelessness and there’s no help as of right now. Over 400+ places (including government officials) have let me know that nothings open. i’m sharing because i’m actively contacting others for help but for example—someone without a cellphone is going to have an even harder time applying.
My opinion is that Real Property is under control of the government, people have been herded into cities and the scarcity of real property and the Homestead act caused a set of wealthy people and created the working class below them. Real property can be taken by force if 100,000,000 adults simultaneously walked onto government land and laid claim to it and began working the land as if it were their own.
It’s like someone took my last decade or so and put it in a short article. Hits home. And it’s not like I haven’t tried to better myself or improve my situation either. Earned two degrees which I haven’t been able to use yet and constantly strive for annual raises at work. Not minimum wage or doctor levels but it’s ok-ish ($21 an hour). Unfortunately life just seems to enjoy f**king with me and my family and setbacks, disappointments happen. It didn’t help when it was decided I earned barely over the pathetically-low, antiquated mark to get even a penny of food or medical insurance help. Somehow in this world a $2 raise can be a bad thing.
As a teacher is see the poverty cycle everyday in class. Most students that come from poor families have a very poor self discipline and have difficult time taking on responsibility. While each student is given an opportunity to get a very good education, most do not take advantage of that opportunity and fail or do very poorly in school. Once out of high school saddled with a very poor education and very few practical skills to market, young people acquire employment paying low wages that has little upward mobility, and therefore the cycle continues.
An exceptional book that turns the question about escaping poverty on its head is “The Prosperity Paradox” by Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon. Instead of asking the question, how do we get rid of poverty, a simple reframing of the question to “How do we increase prosperity” can have a significant effect.
This is Literally my life lol I’m on my way to a job interview right now and I’m on welfare and it’s exactly like that here in Australia if we earn a too much we get cut off the benifits but then if we end up nearly dead broke they’ll help us but soon they’re implementing “work for the doll” (doll=dollar🤣) where you have to be working (at a salvos or thrift shop) to earn your benifits lol
The current system, in the US for example is not designed to help low-income people come out of poverty (going to avoid a tangent here about both D & R policies). The system as it stands can help the next generation albeit with very low odds get out of the system or for those that choose to not have children to die in poverty. I can provide my own example, I’m an immigrant, oldest of three who came here at the age of 16 to live with my mother, an immigrant herself, who had lived here 20+ years working in a factory, with almost no english proficiency. We were lucky enough to live in public housing in a one bedroom apartment. My mom worked everyday, and I worked part-time while in high school, so it was upon me to pick up my younger siblings from school, make them a meal before I was off to work. I made it to a community college, spent 3 years learning english, and taking intro level courses. I failed remedial writing several times, and kept trying, by this point most of my friends had quit college, never made it (for various reasons, many due to the NYS standardized tests), or were just gone due to the hustle of the streets. I can tell you it would’ve been easier to quit college (especially as I was already three years there almost going on a fourth in a community college that is supposed to be 2 years, and with just very little credits, because remedial courses are pre-reqs to most regular classes). The reality is that eventually I succumbed to depression as I could not see a light at the end of the tunnel.
My parents came to this country with no money, and didn’t even speak English. They received no public assistance, worked hard and saved. Today they own 2 properties in NYC. I myself follow their hard working ethic and bought a property in NYC at 25 years old. Now I’m 29 and have no debt and ready to purchase another property. You can find an excuse or you can find a way. I have never financed a car, always buy cheap used cars. And live comfortably below my means, so that I can save. That’s the winning recipe, not as exciting as a get rich quick scheme but it works.
When you make too much to be given housing and you make too little to rent housing. I’ve seen and experienced this. When I recognized what was happening, I saw the trap and immediately went looking for a better job, because I knew the moment I found myself on the wrong side of that line, it was over and I’d never get out. Sadly most people either see it too late or resign to fate.
I feel devastated that I’m going to lose everything. I’m not eating well so I’m not well in many aspects. The stress is making me have stomach issues. Not sure what to do. I have a child and regret bringing her into poverty. Ts so frustrating and sad. Mostly lonely. 💔💔💔 Like feelings of chronic loneliness. So much disappointment. Totally humiliated and embarrassed of my existence.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:38 🪢 Poverty traps are economic and environmental circumstances that perpetuate poverty for generations. 01:08 🏢 Welfare traps are situations where government benefit programs create disincentives for people to work due to loss of benefits as they earn more. 02:38 🔄 Universal basic income is a proposed solution to eliminate welfare traps and provide a fixed benefit to all members of society regardless of income or employment status. 03:10 🌍 Universal basic income might prevent people from falling into poverty in the first place by creating a stable income floor for everyone. 04:07 🤝 Resolving the welfare trap requires empowering individuals to create long-term change in their lives and communities. Made with HARPA AI
Poverty is a social class and that is so unfortunate, it’s true some work really hard to get to the top while others just get corrupt and cheat their way there, the unfortunate part comes when the people on top fail to recognize how some of their piers got there but judge and criticize those who have very little or nothing, I guess it is how they say money attracts money, and that’s the sad part that a piece of green paper can take the humanity out of some folks.
ok this one is really hitting home rigth now, i’m 26 single, i had to left medicine university 1 year before graduation because the venezuelan goverment wanted us in jail for helping the wounded in 2019, now i have no ways to continue university, i work to survive in brazil . . . but i actually win less than 300$ a month and i dont really have a goverment help . . . . yeah . . . its pretty hard to get out of this.
In a article about poverty, not a word was talked about why incomes from jobs can be so low in the first place that even welfare benefits leave people slightly better off. The problem of low wages resulting from private employment was discussed as if it were a natural phenomenon. No questions were raised about why firms give such a disproportionately low remuneration to the workers who contribute such a lot towards the enormous profits that the bosses earn. As long as we allow these criminal profits to be accumulated by using the merciless logic of the ‘free’ market, poverty won’t go away. Scarcity isn’t a natural condition of the world anymore. We have a load of unearned wealth in the hands of a few individuals who have no use of it and in order to keep things that way, we let millions to starve.
You can make all the articles you want trying to explain poverty. Rents are high and we are paying way more for basics. People are barely scraping by and the minimum wage here is 7.25. This is all by design and those in charge have us fighting each other. In America I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard it’s not my problem. There is a spiritual problem with zero empathy for fellow man. I’m just happy I didn’t bring any kids into this chaos and suffering. More people are staying single and suicide has nearly doubled. No amount of articles can explain why some people are left behind to die and suffer and others live it up.
I was in my late 30s and never had more than a $1,000 in my bank ever. I was making $10 an hour unloading trucks at a warehouse. Then, I escaped generational poverty by simply mowing lawns on the side, with the hope of making a couple hundred dollars a week. After 9 years, I started grossing $10k to $15k a month.
Poverty is a state or condition in which one lacks the financial resources and essentials for a certain standard of living. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. Lucky me,my father taught us how to raise my own food and livestock. No money no problem. Even in the beginning of time,even with no money we still can eat and live because we raised the garden and Livestock.
This is so true tho. I work making minimum wage, but with taxes it takes off so much. I get food stamps and free medical, but with me barely getting that many hours, i barely make it. I’ve been looking for a less physically demanding job for months and months, with no call backs or even an interview. If I get a better job, I might lose all the benefits, making me more broke than now. How do we even escape this and actually be even slightly financially okay
As a 19 year old, who’s been working since 13 no handouts no support and is doing well for himself i can say, it is hard but not impossible, i got me a car, job and apartment, i dropped out of high school mid covid for this exact reason, my plan was “if i can get a job and work while others aren’t i can go from 0 to hopefully the same position everyone else is in right now” it worked and got in a even better position, like i said it’s not easy but i had my priorities straight, saved money and didn’t go out, had the same 3 outfits throughout the whole week (i work construction so it doesn’t matter how you look) and well it paid off, the biggest problem I’d say is having children when your not financially stable, my sister struggles more than me she’s 4 years older with 2 kids but had the same opportunities as me, except she actually graduated but got pregnant at 20, people would always make fun of me for not having a girlfriend, but i probably wouldn’t be in thos position if i ended up getting her pregnant, best advice i can give is make sure you can take care of yourself first before bringing another human being to this earth, being a parent means you have to be a “teacher” for your children and it’s hard to do that when your still a “student”.
It’s not difficult to escape poverty. The problem is that wide-scale poverty is necessary to force people into debt slavery. And they need to be forced into debt slavery because otherwise they won’t toil their lives away building a fantasy existence for the wealthy minority. The problem then becomes that opportunity itself is a traded commodity. And unless you can afford the opportunity, it might as well not even exist to you. Universal Basic Income would simply raise the barrier to entry. We need to solve the real problem, psychopathic wealth consolidation, or nothing else will be effective in the long term.
My government has recently implemented the benefits program for the first time, but with a catch. Citizen who register must have a one year army service certificate. Leaving many unable to meet the requirements. And may unemployed. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that people are able to survive these harsh times.
Before we always believed there was poverty and exclusion before. There Where also exclusives, but, there is an extraction from ownership. This is why you should use your contacts on feel sheet paper and letter tools frequently to communicate. This is a tip for all locals in places of cycles of care.
We Argentinians have found a solution to this dilemma: evasion. You take a job, get paid in cash or crypto, work like a regular worker, and keep receiving government aid. This way, you earn more from your job than a regular worker because you don’t pay salary taxes. You may miss out on severance pay, but the extra income compensates for it. The money you save is commonly invested for a better return than any pension. 😁
As someone from a country without unemployment benefits, you manage your savings until you get a new job, friends and family can decide to assist if not ….you’re on your own. So it’s a privilege to get something handed to you for months to enable you stabilize your life. I know one thing for sure that realistically poverty will never be eradicated because of greedy people, we can only learn to manage it by acquiring relevant skills to the job market and try to live within our means.