Readers tell us: Do you need full- or part-time employment to make ends meet?

By Emily Woodbury

Before we get into the juice here, I just want to thank you for voting in our polls, especially when we ask you personal questions such as this one. And I want to make sure you know that we have absolutely no way of knowing who voted for what. So, if we ever ask you a personal question and you’re afraid to vote or answer truthfully, just know we’ll never know how you answered. We promise.

Now, I’m pretty thankful to be here writing this right now because I do need full-time employment to make ends meet. Especially because I’d like to buy an RV sometime in the future… (Feel free to harass my dad/employer, Chuck, and let him know… wink.)

Anyway, let’s see how you answered this poll from the Sunday, May 3rd issue of our newsletter: Only 6 percent of you are like me in that you need full-time employment to make ends meet, another 7 percent of you need to work part-time, and an even smaller 4 percent of you need to work seasonally. The large majority of you, 83 percent, don’t need any type of employment to make ends meet.

There are tons of comments (read them here by scrolling down) but Mary’s comment stuck out to me. She wrote, “We don’t work for wages, however, we depend on volunteer camp hosting in exchange for a free full hook-up campsite. We volunteer about 8 months each year and it really helps to not have to pay park fees since we are full-timers.”

Another reader, alcomechanic, wrote, “Should have had one more category, ‘Don’t have to work to make ends meet, but does.’ I could easily get by on what I have, but I enjoy the people I work with, the extra spending money and the sense of accomplishment.” You’re right, that would have been another good poll option.

I hope that those of you who do need to work full-time, part-time, or seasonally are not a part of the heartbreaking unemployment numbers right now.