Mid-wage occupations such as office managers and truck drivers accounted for 60% of the job losses during the recession, but only 22% of the gains during the recovery, according to a National Employment Law Project analysis of Labor Department data. Low-wagepositions, on the other hand, soared 58%.
Uncertainty and insecurity are weighing down the middle class, even those who haven’t had a break in employment. More than 40% of those surveyed in a recent Rutgers University study said they were “very concerned” about job security.
They’re also not very optimistic about the near future. Fewer than one-third believe that economic conditions will improve next year, and an equal number think they will get worse, according to the Rutgers survey, conducted by the university’s Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. Only 19% believe that job, career and employment opportunities will be better for the next generation.
The survey’s title sums it up: “Diminished Lives and Futures: A Portrait of America in the Great-Recession Era.”
Dan Heiden of Eagan, Minn., embodies that life. Before 2007, the union supermarket worker owned an apartment and socked away funds in the bank and in a retirement account.
Then the store cut his hours.
“The economy tanked,” said Heiden, who now works no more than 30 hours a week. “They aren’t hiring full-time any more because they can pay less.”
Middle class
