The Hollowing Out of America's Middle Class

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3mGfvbJ_RpR6DjfgjCh76ETGKW5rKpIElG-xIOGsFPqW-vr-lQvWdAugd5tWviyzbK6cHP-EIdd4g2YX2FyIU4FpY9DaRdUFDHUk7rbvvAu0-SkkCi172ET6GgriWxzylzRqNYu1GEg/s1600/Job+Growth.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3mGfvbJ_RpR6DjfgjCh76ETGKW5rKpIElG-xIOGsFPqW-vr-lQvWdAugd5tWviyzbK6cHP-EIdd4g2YX2FyIU4FpY9DaRdUFDHUk7rbvvAu0-SkkCi172ET6GgriWxzylzRqNYu1GEg/s320/Job+Growth.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />As seen in the chart above, retail trade, leisure, and hospitality production and nonsupervisory employment has been growing faster than employment overall. This is clearly not a recent development.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0p4Jz2fVE6w6DAyPEmoLZxXyT3cxQcXLciPfhm9TSlv_sHsAYeON5DNsXu3SOGNuV0AoUaridxlrPhPp9QMTCxEQ2ztxWzTGr0ci-DHdGZo8q8jIzurXrtHWJ7ejtvLo9V-gK3UF0IpQ/s1600/Hollow+Earnings.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0p4Jz2fVE6w6DAyPEmoLZxXyT3cxQcXLciPfhm9TSlv_sHsAYeON5DNsXu3SOGNuV0AoUaridxlrPhPp9QMTCxEQ2ztxWzTGr0ci-DHdGZo8q8jIzurXrtHWJ7ejtvLo9V-gK3UF0IpQ/s320/Hollow+Earnings.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />Not only do these jobs not pay well, but in inflation adjusted terms they pay roughly one-third less than they did in the early 1970s.<br /><br />The future's so bright I gotta wear <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/03/when_did_drunks_start_wearing_lampshades.html">lampshades</a>.<br /><br /><b>Source Data:</b><br /><a href="http://www.bls.gov/data/#employment">BLS: Employment</a><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CPIAUCSL">St. Louis Fed: CPI</a>

The Hollowing Out of America's Middle Class

Click to enlarge. As seen in the chart above, retail trade, leisure, and hospitality production and nonsupervisory employment has been growi...

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