Reich continues his boat metaphor with "the second of the three boats" (296). This boat that carries "in-person servers, is sinking as well, but somewhat more slowly and unevenly" (Reich296). In other words, this boat contains personal service workers. These people include retail store workers, restaurant employees, and other personal care workers. These are the types of jobs that people take just to get by in life. Most of these workers only make minimum wage and are just trying to stay afloat. They hardly ever receive benefits, such as health and life insurance. The production workers, who have lost their jobs, are moving in on personal care service jobs. Now that our production workers and personal care workers are fighting for the same jobs, the owners pay them less. The owners know that it does not matter if they pay them enough, because someone down the chain will always be willing to do that job. This is also demonstrated in our society today. With the economy at the worst it has been in years, farmers and other producers are forced into bankruptcy. Large manufacturers are too much for most producers to compete with, so they end up settling for minimum wage jobs. According to Business and Professional Women/USA, 40 percent of minimum wage earners are the sole breadwinners in their families (Facts 1). Since minimum wage is only at $6.75, it is impossible to support a family with such limited funds. Another shocking statistic according to the Business and Professional Women/USA, is that the real value of today's minimum wage is 30% below its peak in 1968 (Facts 1). Reich wrote, "Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer" in 1991 when the minimum wages real value was also more then it is today. Therefore, minimum wage issues are only getting worse and the personal services worker's ship, is sinking faster.
The final bit of Reich's metaphor involves the third boat, which is "the vessel containing America's symbolic analyst" (Reich 299).
