Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Middle-class jobs are disappearing in the U.S.

And when middle-class jobs disappear, the middle class is close behind. 

Writes the Economic Populist:
We have a huge problem. Americans are absolutely desperate for decent paying jobs ... Economists call what's going on job polarization, meaning jobs for the middle class are literally being wiped out. We won't hear them mention the obvious, offshore outsourcing and use of foreign guest worker Visas as being a major cause of the hollowing out of American jobs. Nope, these various studies refuse to mention the O word. You also won't hear about corporations using recessions as an excuse to offshore outsource even more jobs. Yet, that's in part what is happening.
Here's the scary chart: 

The chart uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It shows the hollowing out of middle class jobs -- the ones that require routine work but can launch people into higher-paying work. Economic Populist notes,  
What all of this research shows is good old fashioned work that doesn't require you to be Einstein or chanting do you want fries with that, is being obliterated in America.
And here's a scary statistic, from macroblog:
...the fraction of unemployed workers who have been looking for a job for more than six months has increased to a share not seen in the United States in at least 60 years.
Be very afraid.