New Beginnings

On a fishing trip with his retired friends, Percy Evans, 66, who works for a temp agency, reflects on how he views his place in American society today.

“I’m goin’ to put it this way: there’s two class of people now, the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots are the ones that are scuffling. And the haves don’t want the have-nots to have what they got. I’m in the have-nots,” says Percy.

In the final episode of Hard Earned, Percy’s wife Beverly plans to retire from her job as a social services case manager as her health starts to deteriorate after a stroke. With their household down to one person bringing in income, their house in Chicago will be at a greater risk of foreclosure.

Meet the Hard Earners   – The working-class people at the heart of our six-part documentary series

Percy remains optimistic about his wife’s health. “She’s healthy; she will always be healthy,” he says. 

After her tragic miscarriage, Diana Gonzalez, 18, is back in Silicon Valley after visiting her mother in Mexico and has taken up her first job at a market and florist. Even though she doesn’t speak English, she explains in Spanish that she’s starting to view her loss in a new light.

“When we lost the girls it was the longest month of my life. It felt eternal. Now I feel like, if God didn’t give me my girls it’s for a reason,” she says. Work has given her more confidence to go outdoors and she’s starting to feel motivated to learn more and “see what I can achieve in this country.”

Her boyfriend, Hilton Kennedy III, 20, has been promoted to junior manager at the restaurant where he started as a dishwasher. For now, as he’s no longer working two jobs, he gets to spend more time with Diana. “Things are working out well,” he says.

In this episode, we also see how Jose and Elizabeth are settling into their new house and juggling their funds to pay their mortgage. Jose skips his graduation at a community college as he’s nervous about whether or not he got the math grade he needed to get his degree. 

Takita suffers from an undiagnosed ailment and worries that her sickness and taking time off could get her fired from Walgreens, while DJ continues to enjoy being a union organiser.

Finally, Emilia gives her first public talk about her drug and alcohol addiction to an audience of middle school-aged kids organised by a peer-to-peer support network. Emilia’s candid talk draws an overwhelming reaction from her young audience.