So these are not only low-paying jobs, but hard jobs?
Depends on the job and what skills you have.
From Today:
McCain, Obama come together on National service
Story Highlights WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama spoke about the importance of national service during a Thursday forum sponsored by TIME at Columbia University in New York.The presidential canidates put aside partisan politics as the nation remembers the terrorist attacks.
The presidential candidates took the stage separately, a coin toss determining who took questions first from moderators TIME Managing Editor Rick Stengel and PBS's Judy Woodruff.
Woodruff first asked McCain why it seems the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, are "fading" in the minds of many Americans.
"We needed at that time [September 11, 2001] to take advantage of the unity in the United States of America," he said. "We weren't Republicans on September 11. We weren't Democrats. We were Americans."
McCain also said he suspects the American people feel uninspired by leaders in Washington and repeated the 2008 campaign trail mantra that they crave change in federal government. Americans more than ever appreciate that we live in a global political environment where isolationist tendencies no longer apply, he said.
"They understand the challenges we have in this world," he said, pointing to Russia's recent invasion of Georgia, and "problems growing larger" in Afghanistan. "How is it that we can inspire people? ... We have to reform government. We have to reform the way we're doing business."
McCain was asked what role the federal government should play in national service -- private, public and military.
He praised the Peacecorps and AmeriCorps, saying they and similar organizations don't receive "sufficient recognition" from Washington. But McCain was careful to say government should limit its involvement in largely private volunteer organizations.
"I'd be glad to spend money but I don't think that should be the first priority ..."
Government has a "distinct" role but he said he "wants to be careful about expanding it."
The GOP candidate also fielded a question about his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin's dismissive comments about Obama's community service in Illinois.
"Look, this is a tough business," McCain said, saying Sen. Obama set the tone of the race when he turned down McCain's offer to participate together in town hall meetings across the United States.
"Of course I respect community organizers who serve their community," McCain said, calling Obama's community organizing in inner-city Chicago "outstanding."
"I praise anyone who serves this nation in that capacity."
Obama said his views don't really differ from McCain's on national service.
"America is the greatest country on earth but it didn't just happen on its own," said Obama, saying later as McCain said, that a person's income doesn't necessarily indicate whether they will have the time or the inclination to volunteer. "What has built this country is people who participate in public service that extend beyond our immediate self interest."
Obama said that on Friday he will announce a citizenship volunteer program to help young people of modest means to get involved in their community as he did years ago.
"The fact is we have to have to have government," Obama said. "When a hurricane strikes as it did with Katrina, we have to have a FEMA that works which means we should be encouraging young people to get involved as civil servants" capable of doing the job well.
"That doesn't crowd out the Red Cross or thousands of church groups that went down there [to New Orleans]," he continued. "The Peacecorps does not crowd out need for [other] service overseas."
The forum is part of a two-day summit meant to promote national service. Nearly 500 leaders from business, foundations, universities and politics are meeting to "celebrate the power and potential of citizen service" and lay out a plan to address "America's greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for volunteer and national service," according to the organizers' Web site.
Each presidential candidate has served his nation in different ways. McCain was a Navy officer for over two decades and often encourages Americans to serve a "cause greater than oneself."
Obama served as a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago after he graduated from college. In a speech in December, the Illinois Democrat said he would ask for Americans' service if he becomes president. "This will be the cause of my presidency," he said.Today's joint appearance comes amid recent sniping between the campaigns.
McCain's campaign recently attacked Obama for "lipstick" remarks made during a campaign stop in Virginia on Tuesday.
"John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush -- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics -- we're really going to shake things up in Washington,' " he said.
"That's not change. That's just calling ... the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing." Watch how tensions are rising on the trail »
The crowd erupted in applause when Obama delivered the line. McCain's campaign said Obama's remarks were offensive and a slap at vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, despite the fact that the Arizona senator himself used the phrase last year to describe a policy proposal of Hillary Clinton's.
Obama shot back Wednesday and accused the McCain campaign of engaging in "lies" and "swift boat politics."
"I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift boat politics," he said in Norfolk, Virginia. "Enough is enough." Watch Obama deliver his harsh words »
The phrase "swift boat" comes from the 2004 presidential election, when the group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" launched an attack ad campaign against Democratic candidate John Kerry that was said by some to be false.
But the two presidential candidates agreed to put aside partisan politics on Thursday. They appeared together in New York to lay a wreath at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers collapsed after two airliners hijacked by al Qaeda operatives plowed into them on September 11, 2001.
The two met with families of victims as well as state and local officials.
