Many Americans are convinced that welfare dependency and joblessness represent the true face of poverty in the country. In this enlightening and prophetic volume, anthropologist Katherine S. Newman reveals that thousands of ghetto dwellers work in low-paying jobs and still fail to pull above the poverty line or struggle to make ends meet just above it. The author, who is the Ford Foundation Professor of Urban Studies at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, bases this truth upon a two-year study of more than 300 African-American residents of Harlem, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans from Washington Heights, and business owners and managers — especially in the fast-food industry.

Despite the fact that many of those at the bottom of the occupational pyramid face a bleak future, they find that their jobs "give their lives structure and purpose, humor and pleasure, support and understanding in hard times." Newman salutes the courage and stamina of these workers who must contend with decaying housing, lack of medical attention, lousy schools, and persistent insecurity. She also reveals the slow and steady ways in which working for a living enables these inner city dwellers to pull away from the street culture into the mainstream. That is why it is imperative that communities support the hardworking poor with new initiatives, including more schools-to-work transition programs, employers' consortia, and public-private partnerships emphasizing job training and placement.