Life on the minimum

In the United States, fast food restaurant workers have gone on strike and are demanding a pay rise. However, the United States is not the only country in which the majority of the population lives on the edge of the subsistence level. Such people are everywhere, and this issue is dedicated to them.

(Total 40 photos)

Source: reuters.com

1. 27-year-old Javier Alava on the street in New York. Alava works in a car shop and earns on the verge of a living wage - $ 8 per hour. He takes the subway to work in Long Island, which takes him almost an hour. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

2. Javier Alava works in a car shop on Long Island. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

3. Payday. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

4. Javier Alava's check for 50 hours of work in the store. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

5. Dai Yucheng, 58, a janitor, has lunch at his home in Shanghai. Dai works for a company run by the Shanghai Municipal Government. He earns $2.28 an hour. He usually works from 4 am to noon six days a week. Dai and his wife rent a 3x4 meter room in a slum not far from where they work. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

6. Dai Yucheng goes home after the end of the working day. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

7. Dai Yucheng sweeping the streets of the Hongkou district in Shanghai. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

8. This is how Dai Yucheng's hourly wage looks like - 14 yuan or $ 2.28. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

9. Suzanne Dimitri is waiting for a train at a station 40 km northeast of Paris. 29-year-old Susanna works as a teacher, model, and sometimes takes part in performances. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

10. Suzanne Dimitri combs her hair in her apartment in Paris. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

11. Suzanne poses for the artist. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

12. Suzanne in front of her hourly wage. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

13. 60-year-old Jorge in his home on the outskirts of Mexico City. Jorge, who is deaf, has been bartending 11-hour days for over 30 years and earns $8 a day. Because of his salary, he cannot rent a house, so he lives with his wife's parents on the outskirts of the city, from where he gets to work in two hours. (REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)

14. Jorge goes to work in the center of Mexico City. (REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)

15. Jorge at his workplace in a bar in downtown Mexico City. (REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)

16. Jorge and his daily salary. (REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)

17. Hungarian social worker - 44-year-old Gabriella Bundi and her 11-year-old daughter River - in their kitchen in Debrecen, 240 km east of Budapest. Gabriella has been unemployed for three years, taking a temporary job offered by the state in exchange for unemployment insurance. Her husband is a handyman. Together they earn about $1,200 a month, but they have five children and a grandson, and everyone lives with them. (REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh)

18. Gabriella Bundi buys vegetables. (REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh)

19. Gabriella goes to clean the streets with her colleagues. (REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh)

20. Gabriella takes out the trash. (REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh)

21. 34-year-old Rufina Condori is a housekeeper in La Paz. Condori works two jobs and earns about $170 a month. (REUTERS/David Mercado)

22. Doing homework is one of her areas of activity. (REUTERS/David Mercado)

23. Rufina Condori cleans a room in La Paz. (REUTERS/David Mercado)

24. Rufina and her salary. (REUTERS/David Mercado)

25. 24-year-old Nelson Tavares paints a picture for his first exhibition in Lisbon. Tavares works for a publishing company where he receives Portugal's living wage of 485 euros per month. He studied at art school and is now preparing for an exhibition of his own paintings. Lives with his parents. (REUTERS/Rafael Marchante)

26. Nelson Tavares works on the graffiti of his namesake Nelson Mandela, which he painted during a holiday in Lisbon. (REUTERS/Rafael Marchante)

27. Nelson Tavares with his friends. (REUTERS/Rafael Marchante)

28. Nelson Tavares with his hourly wage. (REUTERS/Rafael Marchante)

29. Claire Mason looks after the children in the children's center. Mason earns the Australian living wage, which is officially A$15.96 ($14.26) per hour. Her responsibilities include: feed, play and participate in the educational activities of children who are brought to the center by their parents for the whole day. After paying rent for an apartment, buying food, paying for the phone and gas, she has about $20 a week left. (REUTERS/David Gray)

30. Claire Mason changes a girl's diaper. (REUTERS/David Gray)

31. Claire during a break. (REUTERS/David Gray)

32. Claire Mason keeps 15.96 Australian dollars - her hourly salary. (REUTERS/David Gray)

33. 24-year-old Dimitrius Zaroulas in front of the Athenian Acropolis. Zaroulas studied journalism, but works as a waiter in a fish restaurant in the suburbs of Athens, where he earns 4 euros an hour. For some time he managed to work as a journalist on the site and in the local newspaper. He lives in an apartment of 90 sq.m. with his parents and 31-year-old sister, who lives with him in the same room. Gets to work and back by train. After school, he served in the Greek army for 9 months. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)

34. Dimitrius Zarulas at home. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)

35. In the room he shares with his older sister. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)

36. Dimitrius with 2 coins of 2 euros - his hourly salary. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)

37. 48-year-old Sueli Pas Alekrin cries, looking at a monthly bank account. Sueli lives in Brazil and takes care of her 11-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy. She lives on a living wage of $288 a month, which is paid to her by a special government program due to her daughter's illness. (REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino)

38. Sueli Pas Alekrin just bathed her daughter. (REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino)

39. Sueli plays with his daughter. (REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino)

40. Sueli Pas Alekrin with his monthly allowance. (REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino)