High-paying jobs outpacing others in recovery

A new study concludes that high-paying jobs have grown the fastest in the economic recovery, casting doubt on the widespread lament that low-wage jobs have dominated payroll growth since 2010.

The report, by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, says its findings are more accurate than prior analyses that cite a prevalence of low-paid jobs because it evaluated occupations rather than industries.

Based on that measure, nearly 3 million, or 44%, of the jobs added from 2010 to 2014 were high-paying positions with salaries above $53,000. Only 1.9 million, or 29%, of the newly formed jobs were middle-wage ($32,000 to $53,000) and 1.8 million, or 27%, were low-wage (less than $32,000).

"We're not just creating lousy jobs," says Anthony Carnevale, head of the Georgetown center and co-author of the report. "It's more good jobs than bad jobs."

He says that finding is consistent with the growing need for skilled workers who can operate new technologies, and with the notion that such employees are typically the last to be fired in a recession and the first hired in recovery.

By contrast, a report last year by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) found that low-wage industries made up 44% of the jobs added from 2010 through early 2014, while mid-wage industries constituted 26% and higher-wage industries, 30%.

The discrepancy between the two reports largely stems from the mistaken belief that virtually all the jobs created in so-called low-wage industries such as restaurants, retail and home health care pay little, based on their median wage, the Georgetown study says. For example, besides low-paid waiters, cashiers and personal care aides, those sectors also employ well-compensated chefs, accountants and registered nurses.

But the employment gains most prominently reported each month by the Labor Department and analyzed by the NELP study count the total number of jobs created by each industry based on a survey of establishments. They don't break down those jobs by occupation.

The Georgetown study based its findings on a separate Labor Department survey of households that tallies jobs based on occupation, rather than industry.

It found that the high paying, or "good," jobs added in the recovery were mostly filled by managers and workers in health care, and science, technology, engineering and math. Blue-collar jobs in manufacturing and construction as well as positions in community services and education comprised most of the mid-wage jobs created. And the low-wage positions were largely filled by workers in food and personal services, sales and office support.

While the nation has more than recovered the low- and high-wage jobs lost in the recession, there were still 900,000 fewer mid-wage wage jobs at the end of 2014, the study says. Those include many manufacturing positions that were outsourced overseas or replaced by technology.