Where the Wages Are

by Don Boudreaux on October 12, 2009

in Data, Myths and Fallacies, Work

The comment below, from John Dewey on this post, deserves to be highlighted as a post of its own:

Harold Meyerson assertion about wages:

meyerson: “the vast majority of new jobs in recent decades has come in the service and retail sectors, which tend not to be as productive and don’t pay as well.”

… is wrong.

The truth? In most service sectors, wages exceed those of the manufacturing sector:

sector …………………………..median wage

information (incl telecom)………$23.10
government………………….….$20.86
educational services…………….$19.85
finance and insurance…………..$19.63
transportation/warehousing…….$18.39
construction…………………….$18.38
wholesale trade…………………$17.72
manufacturing…………………..$16.62
health care and social service…$15.65
retail trade………………………..$10.55
accomodation/food services…….$8.62

Source: BLS 2008 National Industry Survey

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