mwdegutis Loc: Illinois

Study: 1.2 Million Fewer Mid-Wage and High-Wage Jobs since Recession
By Barbara Boland – cnsnews.com

There are 1.2 million fewer jobs in mid and high-wage industries now than prior to the recession, with low-wage industries accounting for 41% of job growth the past twelve months through July.

Since the recession, there are 2.3 million more jobs in low-wage industries, according to a new report from the National Employment Law Project.

Real median hourly wages declined by 3.4% from 2009 to 2013, when averaged across all occupations, the report finds. Those with low- and mid-wages experienced sharper wage declines than did those receiving higher-wages.

The study finds an uneven recovery - since, while job losses from January 2008 to February 2010 were concentrated in mid- and high-wage occupations, job gains made since then have been concentrated in low-wage industries.

Just so it’s not all gloom and doom, on a more promising note…

Since July of 2013, medium-wage jobs in industries like manufacturing and textiles accounted for 26% of jobs created, while white-collar jobs accounted for 33% of new jobs.

While it's promising that this past year high-wage job growth is closer to on-par with low-wage jobs, Claire McKenna of NELP says to CNBC: "It's really hard to tell whether or not (that) will continue. There are a lot of other indicators that suggest there's still a lot of market slack."

Those factors include the decline in labor force participation and the continued growth of people forced to work part-time because part-time positions are the only jobs that are available.

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

Low paying jobs lead to less taxes collected and more people on hand outs. The democratic idea is raise taxes every step of the way, CONTROL!

skott Loc: Bama

Isn't that exactly what happened under Bush when he "created 23 million new jobs" according to Hannity.
The real problem may not be either president, but business owners taking manufacturing jobs overseas.

Tyster

Maybe that is the interpretation of what Obama meant by income redistribution??

Tyster

Maybe if the government would quit trying to meddle in the affairs of business, owners wouldn't feel the need to move their work force.

Combined with unions (which the Democrats support), businesses were being forced to operate more like c*******t enterprises than capitalistic ones. Again, forcing the need to move operations.

You would like to take the stance that businesses moved their manufacturing operations to foreign locations merely because they were greedy. However, that fully ignores the problems businesses faced from government intrusion and union activities related to US labor.

OSHA and the EPA may have good intentions, but the manner in which they have been run... and I have seen ample evidence of them being extremely overbearing to the point of driving companies out of business. These were not f**grant violators who deserved to be shut down, but rather honest businesses who just didn't have the resources to deal with obnoxious government intrusion. Each of these "closures" resulted in workers losing their jobs.

Kirk

You've got some good points Tyster. I'm in the construction industry down here in Southern California and I'm getting my ass kicked. I'm a union shop trying to compete with lower cost labor. The old saying if you can't beat em join em is happening as many companies are using lower cost labor hoping to not get caught. They probably won't as it's very hard to enforce. I just received an e-mail last week from a GC on one of my projects saying that OSHA is sending out a task force from Sacramento consisting of two OSHA agents, one armed officer and someone from State Board of Equalization checking for mal hydration. One subcontractor ran out of cups, but had water and he was still fined 17,000.00. I'm ready to give up and become a beach bum, but my kids won't let me.

Tyster

My condolences - that your kids aren't letting you kick back! But you hit the nail on the head. One of my favorite stories was of a small carpenter shop in the Orange County area. Guy had a great little shop with two employees... OSHA shows up and found some technical violations. The owner was more than happy to comply - he cared about the employees and the last thing he wanted was any harm to them. OSHA comes back to verify that the changes were made... they were, but then they found more "violations". He immediately complied and they returned. Verified that all problems were resolved, then made a list of additional items. Frustration came out and he inquired what would happen if he didn't have employees... OSHA smugly told him then the changes wouldn't be necessary. He then escorted the agent back, and introduced the employees to the man that just cost them their job.

Kirk

Funny story but not so funny. Unbelievable!

rcksha

I concur. OSHA did the same thing to me as a small home builder in the Northwest. They came back several times, finding everything rectified, only to get their microscopes out to find other minor problems. They even asked my people to help them measure things to find violations. Finally issuing a citation for significant amount of money.
I challenged the citation to the hearing officers level, got a reduction of fine, and was told they were not out of line in their investigation. They will never admit they are being overbearing and only behaving as a control agency instead of a safety organization in the best interest of the worker.
This agency has become nothing but a control agency with using Safety in the workplace as a cover.
This continued effort on their part forced me to close the business and lay off 9 employees. We always paid close attention to safety issues as I was always concerned not to get anyone hurt on the job. In 16 years we had 1 reportable accident. One is too many, but not a bad record in the Industry, only to be forced out of business by OSHA. I feel sorry for Co.'s trying to comply . It's like the law enforcement. If they want you, they will find something to charge you with. No matter how hard they have to hunt to find it.

Kirk

Crazy! Sorry you went through that. OSHA is exploiting safety. I went to their website where you find them bragging about their large unreasonable fines. I wrote a comment not to their favor. I hope it doesn't come back and bite me.

Ricktloml

The EPA does not have good intentions

dennisimoto Loc: Washington State (West)

EPA= Employment Prevention Agency

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

They did until they became a political weapon!