Good news: According to the Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Sparshott, the US added more than two million jobs this year, which is a rate that we haven’t reached since 2005.
Bad news: These new jobs pay for shit.
Most of those jobs came in lower paying segments like administrative support, which added 379,200 positions and has an average weekly salary of only $621.07. Temporary help was another big category, with 211,900 net hires and average weekly earnings of $554.23.
By comparison, average weekly earnings for all private workers were almost $828.
Other big gainers with low wages: the leisure and hospitality industry, with average weekly wages at $349, retailers ($518) and restaurants and bars ($307).
In addition to low wages, these jobs often don’t offer the same benefits coverage that higher-paying jobs do, which results in farces like McDonald’s (now-canceled) McResource site urging employees to go on food stamps. Low wages result in higher costs for all of us.