Prior to the recession, many jobs were paying higher wages than they currently are now. The vast majority of jobs that were lost during and after the recession were in the middle payment range but when these jobs were recovered several years later, many of the same positions are now paying lower wages than they were before. This information was provided by a recent report from the National Employment Law Project. It is believed that the loss of mid-wage jobs is becoming much of a trend and seems to have accelerated as more people are being laid off within the government as well. The co-director for the National Employment Law Project, Annette Bernhardt, has said, “The overarching message here is we don’t just have a jobs deficit; we have a ‘good jobs’ deficit.”

In the report, hundreds of occupations were tracked and were put into three different groups based on wage. The report showed that occupations in certain fields, particularly the construction and manufacturing field that paid around $13.84-$21 per hour, had totaled up to over half of the job losses that occurred within the span of two years, from 2008 up until 2010. While the job market has since improved from all the way back in 2008 and 2010, these fields have only had a total of 22 percent growth. Certain occupations with higher wages of around $21.45 to $54.55 per hour represented a total of 19 percent of the jobs lost during a time when employment was increasing. When employment started to pick up again, there was about a 20 percent increase of these higher wage jobs. In the meantime, the lower-wage occupations in which individuals make anywhere from $7.69 to $13.83 an hour accounted for a total of 21 percent of the job losses when employment was suffering. Once employment started to expand again, these lower wage jobs made up a total of 58 percent of all the job growth.

Some of the particular fields that saw the biggest growth were retail positions and food preparation. The average retail salesperson makes around $10.97 an hour while the average food preparation work makes around $9.04 an hour. Each of the different occupation has seen growth of at least 300,000 workers since June of 2009. Some of the low-paying jobs are available for people who are just getting their feet wet and have just entered the work force for the first time, especially those who have recently graduated from high school and college. However, some of these positions are being filled by older individuals who had to take on these positions after dealing with a job loss during the recession.