I just started a job working as a teachers assistant, it requires I have a degree and a significant amount of experience working with special needs students. The pay is $15 an hour. There are no benefits at all. And as the person was hiring me, they told me that that’s the way it is for everyone in the building. So it was originally going to be a full-time job, now has to be capped at 23-24 hrs. a week to maintain federal poverty standards. For healthcare.
I checked with others in the building, and they two don’t have benefits. I am actually sad and that it’s the truth.
I am actively looking for another job, but this gets me by. Due to trauma in my previous job, I’m scared to even work at this new job. But I need the money.
So my hours are capped, and my mobility is limited because of it. And at $15 an hour there’s no way I can afford to buy my own benefits.