Sub-Poverty Jobs Replacing Middle-Wage Ones, Panel Says

WASHINGTON — Jobs paying less than federal poverty level wages are rapidly replacing jobs that support a middle-income standard of living, said a report by the Senate Budget Committee released today.

“I’m afraid the news isn’t good,” Committee Chairman Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.) said in remarks accompanying a committee report on wages from 1979 to 1987.

“The number of high-wage jobs actually fell while the share of low-wage employment just kept on growing. If that’s how we’re doing in the fifth year of economic growth, I fear what a more uncertain economic future might bring the American worker.”

A job that pays an annual wage of $11,611 to support a family of four falls below the federal poverty level.

A middle-wage job is defined as one that pays more than $11,611 but less than $46,444 to support the same number of people. So-called high-wage jobs pay more than $46,444 a year for a family of four.

The study, based on Census Bureau surveys of wage rates, showed that 64% of American jobs paid middle-level wages in 1979. Between 1979 and 1987, only 38% of the growth in employment was in jobs in this category.

50% at Lower Levels

More than 50% of the increase in jobs during this period was in those that paid the least, the study reported, while high-paying jobs accounted for about 12%.

“The sad truth is that jobs paying below the poverty level are growing faster than any other kind,” Chiles said. “And jobs that provide a middle-class standard of living are a shrinking part of our job landscape.”