WASHINGTON – The good news: employers are starting to hire again. The bad news: the new jobs are low-paying.
A study by the National Employment Law Project, a liberal research and advocacy group, finds that most of the jobs lost during the recession were middle-wage occupations, earning between $13 and $22 per hour. But those positions are slow to recover and 58 percent of new jobs pay between $7 and $14 per hour, reports The New York Times.
The fast-growing but low-paying positions are generally in retail sales and food service. In addition, even the low-paying jobs now see added competition from older, more experienced workers.
The New York Times reports middle-wage jobs are also disappearing due to positions moving overseas or technology replacing workers. Government jobs also experienced deep cuts to middle and high-wage positions.
WTOP’s Jamie Forzato contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
