According to a new study by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor Marc Levine, since 2010 the number of low-wage occupations in Wisconsin increased while the number of middle-wage occupations actually shrunk.
Low-wage-occupation jobs bounced back in the recovery, rising by about 130,000 from 2010 to 2013. During that same period, middle-wage occupations lost 16,000 jobs.
“Since 2010, the recovery has been extraordinarily heavily weighted — all of the net growth in Wisconsin has been in the low-wage category,” Levine said.
Some of that growth is from newly created low-wage jobs. But the lion’s share has come from middle-wage occupations dropping into the lowest tier as their pay fell in inflation-adjusted terms.
I’d venture a guess that among those formerly middle-wage occupations that have fallen into being low-wage jobs are some public employees, as I’ve noted previously.
To see that the number of low-wage occupations grew while the number of middle-wage (i.e. family-sustaining) occupations shrunk tells a startling story about the kinds of jobs Gov. Scott Walker has created here in Wisconsin since he declared the state “Open for business.”
This is what should scare the hell out of every single Wisconsinite and why they should be throwing out Walker by a ginormous margin. First – because clearly there is nowhere to go in Wisconsin if you lose your job through downsizing. Second – because purchasing power is being destroyed and that impacts business and the tax base. Walker’s record is indefensible.