Must-Read: Heidi Shierholz: The Myth of Job Polarization

Must-Read: Heidi Shierholz: The Myth of Job Polarization:

In the first few years of the recovery, growth was very strong in very low-wage jobs that pay $10 per hour or less. This is typical…

…in the early phase of a recovery, when jobs are being added but the labor market still has a lot of slack, there tends to be disproportionate growth in low-wage jobs. The strong growth in low-wage jobs was offset by weak growth in middle-wage jobs…. Since 2013 the pattern has shifted. There has been a notable decline in the number of workers in very low-wage jobs…. The last few years saw disproportionate gains in middle- and high-wage jobs. In particular, there has been extremely strong growth in jobs with wages between $12 and $18 per hour. Jobs in the $19-$35 range saw growth that was roughly in line with what would have been expected given the overall level of job growth. And there was strong growth in jobs that paid more than $35 per hour…. As the labor market has strengthened, the pattern of very strong growth in low-wage jobs and weak growth in middle-wage jobs in the first few years of the recovery has shifted…