Hunger stalks millions of poor Americans

An escalating global food crisis could bring the problem of hunger home to the US and other developed countries.

Millions of poor Americans risk going hungry if food prices continue to rise and food agencies struggle to cope with rising costs, dwindling resources and a huge increase in demand.

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Filling the gap where government help does not reach is a network of 200 regional food banks that distributes food to about 30,000 churches and soup kitchens around the country. America’s Second Harvest, the body that oversees the network, estimates the number of people seeking its help has risen by up to 25 per cent in the past year.

About 40 per cent of the 13m working-age adults served by the organisation come from households where at least one family member has a job, said Vicki Escarra, chief executive.

“The face of poverty and hunger has changed in the past few years. The notion that it’s just homeless people is inaccurate.”

Financial Times

The BETRAYAL of Work

How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans

One in four workers in the United States have jobs that pay poverty wages, provide minimal or no benefits, and allow little flexibility and time for quality childcare. Despite the great wealth of the United States, the standard working conditions for these workers are lower than those of comparable workers in other industrialized nations.
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Allowing these conditions to continue challenges our notions of basic equity and fairness as these workers play by the rules and get so little in return. It erodes our most cherished values of personal responsibility, hard work, and perseverance. Leaving a large group of workers out of society's rewards impairs the functioning of America's democracy and communities and destroys the kind of nation we want to become.

An immigration raid aids blacks for a time-The Wall Street Journal

STILLMORE, Ga. -- After a wave of raids by federal immigration agents on Labor Day weekend, a local chicken-processing company called Crider Inc. lost 75 percent of its mostly Hispanic 900-member work force. The crackdown threatened to cripple the economic anchor of this fading rural town.

But for local African-Americans, the dramatic appearance of federal agents presented an unexpected opportunity. Crider suddenly raised pay at the plant. An advertisement in the weekly Forest-Blade newspaper blared "Increased Wages" at Crider, starting at $7 to $9 an hour -- more than a dollar above what the company had paid many immigrant workers. The company began offering free transportation from nearby towns and free rooms in a company-owned dormitory near to the plant. For the first time in years, local officials say, Crider aggressively sought workers from the area's state-funded employment office -- a key avenue for low-skilled workers to find jobs. Of 400 candidates sent to Crider -- most of them black -- the plant hired about 200.

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For the first time since significant numbers of Latinos began arriving in Stillmore in the late 1990s, the plant's processing lines were made up predominantly of African-Americans.

The sudden reversal of economic fortunes in Stillmore underscores some of the most complex aspects of the pitched debate over immigration: Do illegal immigrants take jobs from low-skilled American workers? The answer in Stillmore initially appeared to be yes.