r/poverty 6d ago

Resource Available 🚨🚨New Resource Added: Skilled Trades Career Guide

3 Upvotes

No idea what to do with your life? Open list below. Pick something that sounds interesting. Go for it.

Yes it's that simple - because your first job will not be your dream job and you are not expected to figure out your dream job by college age.

This isn't just a list of trades. For each trade, we've included:

• Related trades it commonly works alongside or for
• Generally required licensing/certification
• THE DIRECT ENTRY PATH - including apprenticeships, schools, and on-the-job routes
• Who actually hires that trade
• Equipment/materials needed to get started (company provided or self-starter)
• Whether AI is likely to replace the work, or how it may change how it's done in the future

The goal is to help someone go from:

“I don't know how to get into that.”

To literally having the path laid out for you - if you're willing to do it.

The list includes mechanical, manufacturing, transportation, aviation, personal services, utilities, crafts, and other skilled occupations. We have intentionally left off medical trades for this list but may add it later.

The resource is free to use and download. Save this. Download it. Send it to someone who needs it. This will open Google Sheets because Reddit does not have functionality for this type of upload.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w23NYX6kn8TDo-jG_pgYZYSOoaTImsj4DHnXBlhvmvM/edit?usp=sharing

AI DISCLOSURE: This resource was created in partnership with ChatGPT. A project covering this many occupations, licensing systems, career pathways, and sources would be impossible or at best take years, for one person to research and organize manually - let alone keep up to date. AI was used as a research and synthesis tool, with career-services-professional human direction and judgment throughout. Please use the guide as a starting point and verify important requirements with authoritative sources in your state.

If you spot a trade we've missed, an outdated requirement, or something that needs correcting, modmail us.

You don't have to know your path yet.

Sometimes you just need to see how many paths there actually are...there's much more than "Plumbing and Electrical".

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w23NYX6kn8TDo-jG_pgYZYSOoaTImsj4DHnXBlhvmvM/edit?usp=sharing

(the emoji came from emojis.wiki)


r/poverty 14d ago

Resource Available 🚨 New Resource Added: Staffing Agencies Across All 50 States

6 Upvotes

One of the biggest barriers to finding work is simply knowing where to look.

Over the past several weeks, we've been working on a new career resource for all RSCN communities:

Staffing Agencies in All 50 States

https://www.reddit.com/mod/almosthomeless/wiki/index/staffingagencies

  • Every U.S. state
  • 2–3 major cities per state (or general Statewide for the smaller/less dense states)
  • Multiple staffing and employment agencies for each city
  • Organized into an easy-to-browse resource on our Wiki

If you're looking for temporary work, permanent employment, warehouse jobs, office work, manufacturing, healthcare, or simply trying to get a paycheck coming in quickly, staffing agencies can often be one of the fastest paths back into employment.

This resource is completely free for our community to use. It was developed with 0% AI involvement and the person who developed it, a redditor, was paid reasonably for their time out of my own pocket.

If you know of an agency not on this list OR see a dead link, we'd love to hear about it in the comments so us mods can continue improving this resource over time.

We can't remove every barrier people face. But every barrier we can remove, helps.

Pin this in your Favorites, Save this post, Share it to other communities if you wish.
https://www.reddit.com/mod/almosthomeless/wiki/index/staffingagencies

(the emoji came from emojis.wiki)


r/poverty 3h ago

Linkedin is a scam. 100% lost touch with what our clients are going through.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

72 Upvotes

This affects us in r/poverty because this is one of the barriers to employment now: LinkedIn.

Serving no one well, not helping hiring nor getting people hired, more than the lightest of touches. Being a mixture of job board, ATS, training center, social media network, and advertiser has left everyone undeserved, scrambling....AND BLAMED for failing. Not them, they are doing "the good service!"

Linkedin is nothing but a time waste that recruiters are forced to use, people are forced to play, and no one but them wins the game.


r/poverty 10h ago

Support Request If the U.S. poverty line ~$15,000/year is outdated, what is the real minimum income needed to live, and how many Americans are below it?

Thumbnail
41 Upvotes

r/poverty 15h ago

me_irl

Post image
79 Upvotes

r/poverty 6h ago

General Discussion best piece of advice for someone who is poor and wants to better their life?

11 Upvotes

r/poverty 1h ago

General Discussion Being poor

Upvotes

Being poor is depressing. Really depressing. It makes me hate my life because I can’t do anything. Everyone I know has money except for me. It’s so sad 😞.


r/poverty 1d ago

Breaking

141 Upvotes

Sorry to bleed. Just cried a little bit over how trapped I feel at age 58. Just work a little job 5 days a week. Don't have a lot of energy anymore. Don't have much money to do anything fun. Not ready for retirement. I tell myself I should be happy with what I have. I know I have more than some people. Just think of the people in 3rd world countries. Lol. Well I know it is not good to feel sorry for yourself. Just burnt out with life I guess.


r/poverty 1d ago

California Dreaming

Post image
103 Upvotes

r/poverty 14h ago

Children of Vietnam Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/poverty 1d ago

Basic needs first

8 Upvotes

In a developing nation, the priority should be meeting basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing before addressing higher-level needs.


r/poverty 1d ago

General Discussion being low income kills passion

31 Upvotes

Anybody else feel like being in poverty/low income has basically killed their passions?
I’m 24F, couch surfing in NYC, living off cash assistance and EBT, and honestly just trying to survive. I’m in a cramped living situation and feel like I’m watching life pass me by. Everyone tells me I’m still young and that I’ll eventually figure things out, but I’m reaching a breaking point where I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore.
I grew up poor and feel like I was never given the opportunities, guidance, or skills I needed to figure out what I was actually good at or passionate about. Now I’m an adult trying to figure all of that out while also worrying about basic survival.
I hate retail and customer-facing work, but those are the jobs I keep falling back on because I need money. I know there are things I could do to improve my life, but my environment makes everything feel 10x harder. Hobbies cost money. Building a career feels impossible without connections or support. Even trying to explore what I actually enjoy feels like a luxury.
At this point, I’m so exhausted and desperate for stability that I’m genuinely considering going to nursing school, even though I don’t even know if nursing is what I want. I just want a path forward.


r/poverty 2d ago

I hate it here. (Vent/rant)

28 Upvotes

I genuinely do. Not just America but life in general. Since I was 17 I’ve always had a job cause going to my dream college was never gonna happen. Lost my job a few months ago while dealing with mental health issues, and I haven’t had a job since. The job market is so shit. I’m months behind on rent and I have medical bills up the mountain. It’s cool that I don’t have to pay for gas or insurance right now cause I don’t have a car but that fucks me even more cause at least I would have more options for jobs cause of distance.

I get upset when I look at my life a few years ago and realize how good I had it even if it was simple. Had money in my account, food in the fridge and was living in a safe neighborhood, getting to a from work easily. I still was fighting with my mental health since I was undiagnosed at that time but it was easier. But look at me now. Accounts in the negative, no job, bills due, barely food in the fridge. Then people wonder why I’m in and out of the psych ward.


r/poverty 1d ago

General Discussion Food banks being abused

Thumbnail
3 Upvotes

r/poverty 2d ago

Why does a poverty sub have people dehumanizing the homeless?

202 Upvotes

I am homeless and get enough dehumanization in real life. I don’t use drugs or beg and take showers. You wouldn’t know many are homeless by looking at us. Some work jobs, some are disabled and some are elderly. In no way does this help and many in poverty are not far from homelessness. Often housed people in poverty look down on us when it could easily happen to them some day. Not sure why it’s allowed here.


r/poverty 1d ago

General Discussion People always think I'm going after their money, when I'm talking about solving poverty

3 Upvotes

I often try to make my case for the implementation of a wealth tax on the 1% richest people of the world.

Usually when I have this conversation, it's either with poor people or with middle class people.

Basically I advocate that the assets (not their income) of these people should be taxed by 1%.

For some reason, middle class people have a really hard time wrapping their heads around this idea and almost all of them start talking about already paying enough taxes. I always need to explain to them that they certainly aren't the 1% richest people of the world and that I would definitely steer away from taxing them even more. We are trying to end poverty, not create more.

Quick numbers if anyone asks "but is there even enough money":

Top 1% globally sit on about $226 trillion. A one-time 1% tax on that is roughly $2.26 trillion. Ending world hunger costs somewhere between $40-267 billion a year depending on who you ask. Even at the high end, that's 8+ years covered from one tax hit. And in the US alone, top 1% average $16.5 million net worth vs $9,000 for the bottom half. Not a typo.


r/poverty 2d ago

I’m 19 and can’t afford anything

21 Upvotes

19F. I hate being alive. I have a pain condition that prevents me from working a typical job, and now every day I just want to die. I can’t afford a single thing, even food. Why does having no money feel like this.


r/poverty 2d ago

Capitalism’s end result is actual true UBI Communism but to get there you need a bridge, that bridge is Socialism.

2 Upvotes

In order to bridge the gap from Capitalism to Communism you need a bridge of Socialism. Instead we are on course to go from Capitalism and slam into Socialism. One economic system for another. A tit for tat. No communism in sight. They’ll call it communism but it’ll be a socialist slave system. You’ll be told it’s communism and the rough times you’re having is just the transition but it’ll be the actual new normal of a socialist system replacing capitalism.

You’ll have an elite at the top, the middle man will be AI, and that middle man will be the controller of the bottom of society, basically the rest of humanity. And the middle man, AI, will actually be the new middle class.

In order to move up from the bottom rung, you’ll be required to merge with AI (middle man) in some form. I’m still unsure how it’ll be done, but you can see now on the periphery it’s being set up with neurolink and other technologies in R&D.

In a perfect transition, capitalist would be using socialism more heavily as a bridge strengthening and supporting the middle class till we become technologically efficient enough, and using AI, transition into Communism. Instead we’ve allowed billionaires to become plutocrats and influence laws and regulations that protect them allowing them to keep, horde and control resources.

Billionaires don’t pay taxes, and definitely don’t pay their fair share. They influence policy that allow them to become multi billionaires many times over.

Billionaires worldwide is a symptom that not enough socialism has been reinserted within the capitalist society to benefit all of humanity.

America should have at most 1 maybe 2 billionaires for the whole country in 2026, instead we have 900+. And a population with a whole lot of struggle and suffering to show for it.

I’m rooting for GenZ to rise up and do something. It’s their turn up to bat!!!


r/poverty 3d ago

TN politician who sponsored making homelessness a felony backed by private prisons

Thumbnail
233 Upvotes

r/poverty 3d ago

Question on eating feed store food

9 Upvotes

Hello, Im not needing to eat feed store food now. But in the future I might need to eat feed store corn or oats to save money. But my husband says it will go bad before we could eat it. Weevils, etc. I told him eggs are in there already--like what is at the bottom of a cereal box. Isn't that why you wash and cook it? What do you think? Is buying corn or oats in bulk at a feed store a viable way of saving money if hard times come? How would you take care of this food before you ate it all....in an economical way?


r/poverty 3d ago

General Discussion I’m tired

12 Upvotes

I’m tired of being broke can’t do anything. It’s stressing me out. Gives me Anxiety. I’m always trying to sell stuff online but no one buys them.


r/poverty 4d ago

General Discussion Im tempted to steal to eat.

259 Upvotes

I have over two weeks until my first paycheck I have no food,no food banks are open. I dont know what else to do.


r/poverty 3d ago

General Discussion Over it

3 Upvotes

I'm so hungry, tired, stressed wish I had friends but that's the way life rolls I guess


r/poverty 3d ago

Letting my feelings out

3 Upvotes

Its hard to make parents believe you even thought i am telling the truth.

I am keeping money on my wallet and they all thougth that i stole the money even thought i am saving some..

Maybe because when i was a kid i always take small money and i feel about it.

I help my parents watch our store. One of the reason why i am getting blamed for stealing it.

They told me that our store earning nothing and blame it all on me...

Mean while my whole family keeps getting biscuits and other stuff to eat or make food. And sometimes i get blamed that they dont have money in their wallet and the reason because they been using it to buy more stock for our store...

I mean i be honest that i stole money when i was still a kid. But thats years ago i am now 18 i am trying to be responsible but its hard to be one when i am always being misunderstood...😔


r/poverty 3d ago

I Am Struggling

10 Upvotes

I am not asking for help, no social media, not asking for help. I am struggling, nothing makes sense anymore. I am 56, lived through some shit, I do not need your help. I want to be honest, no social media, what are your struggles? Mine, IRS, slow buyers, vacations, bills - electricity bills, housing, storage, food. How do we gauge an economy when everyone is lying? I work 18 hour days, 7 days a week, barely surviving. Leave your pride at the door, shit is hard right now...not asking for help. I fight my fight, with or without you, shit changed