Maybe Worker Inequality Isn’t Inevitable After All
The groups gaining the most ground in the U.S. labor market right now are goods-producing workers and the least-educated workers.
The “old economy” is looking pretty spry.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
In the 2000s and coming out of the great recession, increased inequality between educated knowledge workers and less-educated and goods-producing workers seemed inevitable. For college-educated workers, there were three areas of job growth: office jobs, education and health care. Goods-producing jobs like those in the manufacturing and construction industries were slowly shrinking as a percentage of total employment, and younger workers were better off staying away from those industries. Less-educated workers got stuck with whatever was left, typically in industries like retail or leisure and hospitality.
But as we head into the waning months of the 2010s, there's reason to believe a more balanced picture is emerging, with prospects particularly promising for workers and industries thought to be left behind.