South By North Strategies, Ltd.

In a post at Policy Shop, Paul Osterman of MIT that the high proportion of poor quality jobs in the American economy is a problem as severe as unemployment.

The second jobs crisis is more subtle but no less serious. Far too many jobs fall below the standard that most Americans would consider decent work. Last year 19.7 percent of working adults held jobs that would put a family of four below the poverty line even if they worked full time and full year. These people work in factories and hotels, in restaurants and hospitals, on construction sites and in day care centers. The problem spans all races and ethnic groups and includes large numbers of native born Americans as well as immigrants.
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Why are there so many bad jobs? The key explanation is that working Americans have not shared in benefits of economic growth. In 2000 the median wage of adult workers was (in 2010 dollars) $17.41 and by 2010 it had barely grown to $17.60. During this same period the annual increase of productivity was over 2.5 percent. Who benefited from this growth? Between 1993 and 2008 the top 1 percent captured 52 percent of all new income in the economy. This is not just a story about dividends and stocks: the share of earnings captured by the top 1 percent nearly doubled.