The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has stated that, although poverty is usually associated with unemployment, a significant portion of the poor are actually employed (see also DeNavas-Walt, Proctor and Smith, 2009 ). Due to low wages, the working poor face countless obstacles that make it difficult to find and keep a job, cover basic expenses, and gain a sense of security (Cross, 2010; Kalleberg, 2011; Lohmann, 2009). The official working poverty rate in the United States has remained stable over the past four decades (Hoynes, 2005). However, some scholars disagree with this stability and believe that the official definition is too low since the percentage of workers facing financial difficulties has increased over the years (Bordoff et al., 2007; Sandoval, 2009; Wicks- Lim, 2010). . Others argue that changes in the economy (i.e., the shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy) have led to the polarization of the labor market (Autor, Katz, & Kearney, 2006; Satya, 2011). This means that while there are more jobs at both ends of the income spectrum, there are fewer in the middle (Kalleberg,