Having browsed through several pages of the posts on this thread, I have come to the (not surprising?) conclusion that they are written by people who are not poor. For the most part I am not detecting much empathy with or sympathy for people who find themselves in depressed financial circumstances. And it made me think of someone I know very well and perhaps his circumstances may provide another perspective.
He is part of a small pool of aged pensioners, all in their late sixties, early seventies who are on call, seven days a week, to ferry drive vehicles for a rental car agency. The drive is often 200 plus kilometres each way and includes some city driving. For this they get paid $6 per hour!!!! This begs the obvious questions: why would they work for such a pittance and/or why don't they demand award rates. Their answer is that given their age, the prospect of getting any other work to supplement their pension is nil; and when they have made representations to their employer, they have been told that he is treating them as contractors and he can pay what he likes. I don't think any of them have high levels of education and would have little idea of what recourses they have they have open to them. And of course there is no union involvement at the place.
You might be able to make a case that this story is extreme and not likely to be in any way representative. But I suspect that there are many similar stories in this age group particularly. These men worked all their lives, raised families, in most cases, on one income and now find themselves unable to improve their lot in even a small way. And meantime they are vulnerable to expoitation.