Blue-collar New Orleans endures cost squeeze

Working class says life getting tougher in a town with higher rents, prices


updated 10:32 p.m. ET, Fri., Jan. 25, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - Anisha Washington draws her neatly starched uniform from a dingy bureau in the crowded shotgun house she shares in a hurricane-crippled New Orleans neighborhood.

Her $10-an-hour pay as a security guard in the touristy French Quarter seems an improvement over the $7.50 she earned before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

But, inflated wages in a storm-reduced labor force are overshadowed by the harsh math of life: Rent has shot up 46 percent, utility rates have risen 33 percent and 15 of Washington's relatives cram a four-bedroom house because apartments are scarce.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22847862