Let's take another look at this. It is pretty bad even if it is new vs old but I am not convinced that is all that it is. This is so bad and so many jobs have been lost that it has to be affecting the big pictture as well. Also how does it account for those that have gone from 100,000 to zero?! I bet it doesn't.
sptimes.com
The Sunshine State is one of 48 states to see jobs shifting in the past few years from higher-paying industries to lower-paying ones. On average, Florida jobs in growing industries pay $29,979, or $5,374 less than jobs that paid $35,353 in contracting industries. Are we going backward? Are we so busy crowing about Florida as a producer of new jobs - 208,000 from late 2001 to late 2003 - that we forgot the new work pays less? Are we so anxious to embrace 2004 as the Year of the Big Bounceback that we're ignoring an ominous sign?
Maybe we are facing less of a "jobless recovery" and more of a "new job, cheaper pay" recovery. If Florida continues to create more jobs that pay less, eventually it will hit us all right in our standard of living. It's tough to buy a new home (especially with the sharp rise in housing prices), a car or even shop at the mall with a $5,373 pay cut.
It's not just a Florida thing. In every state but Nebraska and Nevada, new jobs created from 2001 to 2003 in expanding industries are paying less than jobs in dwindling lines of business. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, researchers from the Economic Policy Institute found that industries nationwide are adding jobs that pay 21 percent - or $9,160 - less annually than industries losing jobs. That's big: an average U.S. drop in pay from $44,570 to $35,410.
Years ago, we dismissed the idea that we were becoming an economy of low-paid burger flippers. Were we premature?
Mish |
