Running on Empty: Why Millions of American Workers Can't Get Ahead — No Matter How Hard They Try

Millions of Americans are doing everything right - showing up early, working late, picking up extra shifts - and still falling behind. Running on Empty asks the question that too many people are afraid to say out loud: why isn't working hard enough anymore?This book takes an honest, data-driven look at the growing gap between what American workers earn and what it actually costs to live a basic, dignified life. Not a lavish one. Not a wealthy one. Just a normal one - rent paid, kids fed, lights on.Through real stories from workers across the country, alongside research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Reserve, and the Economic Policy Institute, Running on Empty traces how wages decoupled from productivity, how housing, healthcare, and childcare became unaffordable for working families, and how millions of Americans ended up juggling two and three jobs just to keep their heads above water.This isn't a book about laziness or bad choices. It's about a system that changed the rules - quietly, over decades - while the people holding it together kept showing up anyway.If you've ever felt like you're running as fast as you can and still losing ground, this book was written for you. And if you've never had to, it might change how you see the people who have.Running on Empty is a call to see the working American clearly - not as a statistic, but as a neighbor. And to ask, together, whether we can do better.

Pagina's: 34, Paperback, Independently published