Job Creators Best at Creating Low-Wage Jobs

Monday, September 03, 2012

The problem for the U.S. economy is not just adding enough jobs—it’s adding enough “good jobs” to replace those lost during the Great Recession.

 

Since the economic recovery began, low-wage occupations ($7.69 to $13.83 an hour) have made up 58% of all job growth, even though these jobs represented only 21% of job losses during the downturn.

 

What the country lost the most was middle-wage positions that paid $13.84 to $21.13 an hour. These accounted for 60% of layoffs from 2008 to 2010. So far, middle-wage jobs have made up only 22% of employment growth.

 

As far as high-paying opportunities, the country has made up what it lost during the recession. These constituted 19% of job losses, and now have accounted for 20% of new positions.

 

“The overarching message here is we don’t just have a jobs deficit; we have a ‘good jobs’ deficit,” Annette Bernhardt, a policy co-director at the National Employment Law Project, a liberal research and advocacy group, told The New York Times.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

To Learn More:

Majority of New Jobs Pay Low Wages, Study Finds (by Catherine Rampell, New York Times)

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