No Driver's License, No Job
MILWAUKEE—Ask conservatives what the poor need to do to get out of poverty, and the answer usually involves something like, “Get a job.” That was the crux of the anti-poverty plan Paul Ryan revealed last week to shrugs, and has been the gist of many anti-poverty efforts over the past two decades.
But for many people, there is one very specific—and often overlooked—reason why that’s not so easy: They don't have a driver's license.
Not all jobs require a driver’s license, particularly those that pay very low wages. But having one is a very common requirement for the sorts of job that can actually lift people out of poverty—those in construction, manufacturing, security, and unions jobs including electricians and plumbers, says Mark Kessenich, who runs WRTP Big Step, a Milwaukee center that trains low-income workers to enter jobs in construction and manufacturing that pay a starting wage of
