Providing safe passage: the crossing guards of Manchester, NH

We might be in the midst of the Great Recession, where job seekers are reputed to pounce on every employment lead like a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat, but that's not to say every available job out there is filled.

Indeed, some jobs here in Manchester, NH, almost seem to be designed to repel job seekers, even if they do pay $12 an hour. For instance, how tempted are you to work a split shift for just 10 hours a week? And did I mention you'd be standing on your feet the entire time? And you'd be outside in the rain, in the snow, in biting cold temperatures and on hot, muggy days?

I speak, of course, of the incredibly important job performed by humble school crossing guard:

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Making ends meet in Manchester

Manchester residents have a better chance of finding jobs that pay a livable wage than do residents of just about any other city or town in the state. But that’s not saying much.

According to a follow-up to the New Hampshire Basic Needs and Livable Wage 2006 study released in October, 2008, by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, a Queen City family with two kids requires both mom and dad to each have full-time jobs paying at least $12.79 an hour in order to “be self-sufficient and pay for the necessities of life.” The necessities of life are defined as food, rent, utilities, basic phone service, clothing and household expenses, transportation by automobile, child care, healthcare and a small allowance for personal expenses.

The problem is that only 55 percent of city jobs pay a livable wage for this family situation.

And it doesn’t get any better for other family types. For a two-parent, two-child household in which only one parent works, only 29 percent of jobs in Manchester pay a livable wage — in this case $19.23 an hour. For a single person with two kids, he or she must make $21.58 an hour to make ends meet — a wage paid by only some 23 percent of city jobs.

Here are the numbers:

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