The U.S. economy is booming in 2018 with many new jobs, but most of the growth is taking place in low wage and high wage occupations. Growth in middle wage jobs is much slower, accounting for only a quarter of the new jobs that are predicted to become available between 2018 and 2023.
Studies define middle wage occupations as those that pay between $14.18 and $23.59 per hour. If the median wage for a particular occupation is in this range, the job is defined as middle wage, even though some people working in that role might earn more or less income.
Part of the problem is that some occupations are expected to lose middle wage jobs between 2018 and 2023. Over this five-year period, middle wage occupations will account for 58 percent of job losses.
Some middle wage jobs in the tech industry could disappear as technology displaces workers. To beat the decline in middle wage jobs, workers need to develop their skills to handle shifts in the industry's demand for workers. With the right training, some workers in this sector can move up into high skilled, high wage jobs.
Although middle wage jobs are expected to decline overall, there are some middle wage occupations that will increase between 2018 and 2023. Demand for customer service representatives, medical assistants, licensed vocational nurses, delivery service drivers, maintenance and repair workers and construction laborers is likely to increase over this time period. Some of these increases are driven by the increasing demand for health care due to the aging population. Meanwhile, growth in construction reflects overall growth in the U.S. economy.
Out of these middle wage jobs that are expected to grow, the largest increase is expected to be in customer service representative roles. Many companies are looking for skilled representatives to help them offer a better service to their customers.
Although the unemployment rate in the United States is very low in 2018, wages are not as high as you might expect given the fact that companies have to compete to attract workers. This is partly because a lot of people are currently working more than one job or looking for an extra job to help them make ends meet. To get by, many young people work more than one low paying job, instead of working a graduate level middle wage job.
With middle wage jobs not growing as quickly as low wage or high wage jobs, many workers in the U.S. are struggling to find suitable roles. One solution for these workers is to develop advanced skills that allow them to move out of middle wage jobs and into higher paying occupations, which are set to significantly grow in number between 2018 and 2023.
Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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