It's a hard life living on the reservation. Today, Indians still face many problems that have affected many Indian lifestyles.
Bad job conditions: Finding jobs and finding success is difficult on the reservation. Today 50 to 70% of the American Indians are unemployed, and Indians have the lowest average income in the US. Reservations that are close to Urban centers, especially on the East Coast are normally similar to the national average, but the rural reservations a majority are out of the workforce. Because of the lack of job opportunities, most of the Indians just don't work at all. There are only very few jobs on the reservation and one of is school employers. Due to the lack of quality educational systems and job opportunities has created the workforce to be considered unprofessional. Most of the Indians aren't even eligible to work outside of the reservation because they haven't had formal training or opportunities. In addition, Indians might encounter discrimination and different jobs might not hire natives. Because the reservation has such bad job conditions they sometimes lose rights to their land because they can't pay the nominal amount of profits.
Lack of Education: Of all the ethnic groups in the USA, Native Americans have the highest rate of school dropouts which is about 54%. Just over half of the adults on the Reservation have a high school diploma. The reservation schools have the highest rate of teacher turnover and have troubles finding staff members and school supplies. Most of the children that grow up in the Reservation only get a secondary education and don't make it so university. Because of the lack of education, it creates other social problems such was unemployment, poverty, teenage pregnancy and high crime rates, including drug abuse. This is why most Indians are forced to accept badly paid jobs.
Housing: The need for adequate housing on the Indian reservations remains acute, and homelessness seems to be an issue. It is estimated that there are 90,000 homeless or under house Indian families on the reservation where there is a shortage of houses. 30% of Indian housing is overcrowded and less than 50% of it is connected to a public sewer (March 8th, 2004, Indian Country Today). There is also a waiting list for tribal housing, and it can take many years and months to wait for housing. Overcrowding is inevitable and most families will not turn away family members or anyone who needs a place to stay. They all live very close with up to three generations all packed up in one house. The housing conditions aren't the best with the absences of utilities and are missing running water, telephones and electricity. Health: The health conditions on the reservations aren't the best with Natives suffering from diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis and other health conditions. The death rates are also growing rapidly. Other conditions are AIDS, asthma, heart failure, cancer are accumulated within the Indian communities. Although 55% of American Indians rely on the Indian Health Service for medical care, Indian Health Service facilities are crisis-driven and is causing a huge gap in adequate and preventative health care for many Native Americans that live in reservations. Most of the Indians that live on the reservation have a life expectancy of 55 years. Many Indians also suffer from depression, in fact, it has the highest suicide rate, and the highest teenage suicide rate. 18.5 per 100,000 teenagers commit suicide on the Indian reservations. Alcoholism is also a big substance on the reservations and it's common in children too, unfortunately. Social challenges and The relationship between the American Indians and the USA: In the reservations they deal with many problems for example, like mentioned before Alcoholism. On some reservations eight out of ten families have problems with alcohol. Indians also have the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and highest rate of child mortality. Because of the weak law enforcement, there are high crime rates on the reservations and outside where American Indians, mostly children, are victims and offenders of domestic violence, rape, and child abuse.
The relationships between the American Indians and the USA are tough due to discrimination which has been a common reaction towards American Indians. Compared to the past, the discrimination of American Indians is not as bad, however, there still are like for example names of many sports teams call themselves "Indians" or "Redskins".