Government subsidized phones don't have a texting plan.

When it comes down to it, modern job searching requires three things:

1. Access to the Internet
2. The knowledge of how to use the Internet
3. A means of direct communication

Its pretty well known that nos. 1 and 2 are lacking, at least in my experience - a lot of poor individuals lack the basic skills necessary to even type or create an email account, much less navigate an internet search or create an online resume. The move to electronic applications for nearly all job fields has left a lot of people behind.

No. 3 is certainly up for debate, but consider this - even not having a texting plan on subsidized phone contracts, a cell phone is infinitely more useful to someone looking for a job than a landline, especially if that person doesn't have internet access at home. The Venn diagram of people with a subsidized phone and who do not have internet access probably has quite a bit of overlap. If you're one of these individuals, you can't afford to be tied down at home while you are out looking for work. If I'm an employer and I call two people, one with a cell and one with a landline, I'm not going to wait around for the landline to call me back or get my message. Landlines with answering machines may have worked fine for everyone for 50+ years, but that era is long gone.