Hold up a second. Beggars do not always equal unemployed, under-educated people. (Where are my math signs when I need them?) Unemployed and/or under-educated people are not all passing up employment and education opportunities looking for quick cash or to opt for begging. You guys are sounding like you're coming from a totally different level.
Imagine this: you have rent to pay, bills to pay, transport to pay, family members to clothe and feed, etc. A gas station job is not covering all that. Many immigrants are coming here with somewhere to stay already and have people looking out for them, and quick jobs with no questions asked lined up. Many of them are holed up in tiny bedrooms with many working people pooling money for rent etc. and living in less than suitable conditions. Some of them can barely speak English and are here illegally but as long as they take the next to nothing pay for dog hours, what cheap employer is going to be picky about that?
An under-educated Trini most likely has to pay for shelter and all amenities. As birth control is often misunderstood and/or unavailable to many struggling in lower classes, there are usually very big families to provide for as well. Many children in these families choose to look for small menial jobs nearby to provide additional income to cover all those expenses and to physically help around closer to home; others forego employment and education to stay at home and help provide care, support, and provide domestically. Still others are forced to remain at home by abusive relationships, parents and the like in life and death situations, disabilities (that aren't all recognized by disability grants - which is not enough to cover all those expenses either!), and so on.
Try telling those people to leave their families, take money that could have bought a meal for a child (that may have been their only meal for the day) and travel halfway across the country to interview for a job they aren't even qualified for and may be passed over for the boss's friend's wife's cousin's dog's real partner. Try telling the teen mom with no childcare or support to dump her kid somewhere for free so she can travel with money she doesn't have to the school she can't afford to pay the fees for that GATE doesn't cover and work at the place she can't afford to travel to, qualify for, etc.
Some of us are fortunate in not having such things, or worse, to worry about every day of our lives to hinder our endeavors in making better lives for ourselves. Not everyone is so lucky. I've stayed with many underprivileged people and learned that often those that have the least, do the most for others. For some, it is heartbreaking and humiliating when they have to ask for something from others but they do it and make do with what they have and give to others from what little they get as well. I've stayed with many wealthy people and learned that often those that discriminate against others, look down on others, and condemn those in need are those who live privileged lives and do not know what a life in need or full of disadvantages is like. Try getting to know some of those people and you may be shocked at their stories. Every time I've come across a random person doing a good deed, it has been a person struggling with very little and did not hesitate at all to help others regardless of how they appear.
FWIW, the biggest scammers/beggars I know are quite educated and employed, but those they seek charity from to fuel their extravagant lifestyles are unaware of how privileged they are. I met a child that informed me her parents gave away or hid nice donations such as clothes, shoes, etc. the children received because they wanted to look as though they were in need to continue asking for and receiving charity. They told the children if they looked nice all the time, they would no longer receive the nice things and it became the children's responsibility to uphold the facade though they were never truly in need aside from when the adults blatantly refused work opportunities, which they did without remorse as they knew others were providing for them.
My point: don't judge a book by its cover. i.e. a person by their appearance or social status.
