ON THE LINE: STORIES OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP IN NORTH CAROLINA

 

Even in the world’s most powerful economy, families are not immune from day to day financial struggle.  Since the Census began tracking poverty rates in 1970, the national rate has never dropped below 11 percent.  Today, 37 million Americans, or 12.6 percent, live under the poverty line.  Many more fight to stay just above it.  For some, financial woe is temporary—for others it is a lifelong battle.  It begs the question, is poverty an inevitable condition in our modern global economy or can we do better?  

 

For many North Carolinians, economic hardship is a way of life.  Even in times of “healthy” economic growth, not all paths lead to financial comfort and stability.  Jobs are lost.  Marriages dissolve.  Medical benefits dry up.  Today, more than half a million people in North Carolina live below the poverty threshold.  Changes in the labor market,

characterized by massive layoffs in the furniture, textile and tobacco industries, have led to painful transitions for NC workers who once lived comfortably.  Alternative manufacturing jobs have been scarce, especially in rural areas where a handful of factories accounted for most employment.  For these blue collar families, chance events have a way of compounding economic hardship – making the pursuit of the American Dream a seemingly unavailing cause.

 

Here, one North Carolina couple briefly tells their story: “I just wish the stress would go away.  I’ve got so much stress in my life – from every direction…  I’m Greg, and I’m 51 years old.  It’s a big change going from making $70,000 a year to nothing.  We’re below the poverty level now…  

 

“I’m Christine, and I get a disability check once a month – it’s supposed to last us?  We’re really squeezed tight.  All of a sudden they came up out of the blue and told us that we’ve got to move by May 1, which is about 45 days.  

 

“My next fear is that I’ll be out on the street, holding up a little sign that says ‘Will work for food.’  Or be homeless, you know, and wondering where the next meal’s gonna come from.  My life was good at one time.  But now, I’m nobody.  I’m nothin’.  My self esteem has gone so far downhill.  I don’t know what’s going to happen to us.  

 

“Right now I can’t look for a job because I’ve had shoulder surgery.  As far as doing anything, it’s kind of boring, cause I don’t really have anything to do.  I hope I can at least get back on my feet, at least to where I can at least pay my own way…  I’m worried, confused, and hurt.  I’m anxious.  I’m a little nervous.  It kept me up last night, thinking about what is going on…  

 

“Starting over – it’s hard, it’s frustrating, it works on your nerves.  We’re down right now, and the chips seem like they’ve landed in a scattered pile, but one thing we have in our favor, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, is that we’re best friends and best friends see each other through the worst.”

 

COLLECTED BY THE 2007 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA DOCUMENTARY PHOTOJOURNALISM CLASS

(adapted from “On the Line,” www.carolinaphotojournalism.org/ontheline)