Ashia Ledgester makes less than $8 an hour working in a Chattanooga hotel. She lives in public housing but dreams of one day owning a home and a physical therapy service to support her family.

“Sometimes I feel like it’s not going to happen, but I’ve got to believe in myself, and I keep taking it one day at a time,” said the 28-year-old wife and mother of four, who works full time during the day and takes night classes in physical therapy at Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

According to a state-by-state analysis of income trends, the goal of financial stability is getting more difficult for low-wage earners such as Mrs. Ledgester and her husband, who does seasonal yard work.

And for those living in Tennessee it’s harder than most.

Tennessee ranks fifth in the nation for having the greatest income difference between the richest and the poorest residents, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan, nonprofit research organization.

The organization, based in Washington, D.C., focuses on public policies that affect low- and middle-income families, according to its Internet site.

“It’s becoming harder for low-income families to lift themselves up out of poverty,” said Liz McNichol, a senior fellow with the center. “And despite economic growth resulting from the contributions of all people, hard work does not pay off equally for all people.”

The poorest fifth of families in the nation have an average income of $18,120, while the top fifth have an average income of $132,130, more than seven times as much, according to the report. On average, incomes have decreased by 2.5 percent among the bottom fifth of families since the late 1990s while increasing by 9.1 percent among the top fifth, according to the center’s report.

“The U.S. is built on the belief that hard work should pay off,” Ms. McNichol said. “That’s violated when the lion’s share of wealth goes to the wealthiest.”

LOW-Skill jobs disappear

Tennessee’s poorly skilled work force contributes greatly to the disparity here, said Dr. Matt Murray, professor of economics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. For decades, the state has relied on manufacturing, textile and apparel industries to provide many of its jobs, but they’ve been low-skill jobs that people can get without much education, he said.

Many of those jobs have moved to Latin America or overseas, he said, sending a wave of unemployed people into the state, all battling over the low-skill jobs still out there.

Compounding the problem, Dr. Murray said, wages for low-skill jobs have become stagnant or gone down in recent years.

“That’s the have-nots,” he said. “Then you have those at the other end, the entrepreneurs and the better educated.”

Free trade has opened doors of opportunity by lowering trade barriers worldwide, he said, so those with college degrees find newly opened doors in front of them. Until people are better educated to open up their employment opportunities, the bleak outlook will continue for those struggling to make ends meet, he said.

“I fear that it’s more of the same,” Dr. Murray said. “If you’re suffering hardship today, that’s not likely to change.”

struggle to make ends meet

After working at McDonald’s restaurants for four years, Latonya Stoudmire quit her job as shift manager to return to school and look for a better-paying job elsewhere. During her four years at the fast-food restaurant, she was promoted from cashier to shift manager, but her pay increased only from $5.50 to $6.50 an hour, she said.

“It just wasn’t enough,” she said.

Ms. Stoudmire isn’t in school yet, but said she’s planning to get her certified nursing assistant certification and work in a nursing home.

Jennifer Upshaw, Ms. Stoudmire’s sister, quit her job at McDonald’s because she was having difficulty paying for transportation. Ms. Upshaw now borrows from family members to buy food and limits riding the bus to look for jobs to Mondays and Tuesdays when she has money for bus fare, she said.

“Groceries are the worse thing,” she said. “In two years, people aren’t going to be able to buy milk.”

Bus fares here increased from $1 to $1.25 in 2005, said Tom Dugan, CARTA’s executive director, and another jump to $1.50 will take place June 30.

The higher cost of transportation coupled with higher costs for food make it tougher on a low-income resident trying to raise a family on $7 to $10 an hour and living paycheck to paycheck.

It’s that grind Mrs. Ledgester said she’s trying to break, if only for her children, ages 3 to 9.

“I want my children to see me doing something positive so that they can get an education and become somebody important,” she said.