Where Are All the Good Jobs Going? : What National and Local Job Quality and Dynamics Mean for U.S. Workers

"At a time when we are desperate for any jobs at all, we must remember that the quality of work is also important. Far too many people work hard yet cannot support their families and have few prospects for upward mobility. Harry Holzer, Julia Lane, David Rosenblum, and Fredrik Andersson help us understand the trajectory of job creation in America and where good jobs come from. They utilize a unique data source that has the great virtue of including information on employers as well as the more standard measures of individual traits and hence they can study the interaction of firm and worker characteristics. They are able to describe the processes of job creation-birth and death of firms as well as their expansion and contraction-and they bring geography into the mix and show how the creation, or lack thereof, of good jobs varies by metropolitan area. This rich and detailed book will be essential for anyone interested in job quality in America."-Paul Osterman, Nanyang Technological University Professor of Human Resources and Management, the M.L.T. Sloan School of Management

"Reversing the rise in income inequality and the increasing polarization of the labor market will take a concerted focus on both the quality of jobs employers create and the education and skills of the workforce. Using a unique matched data set of employers and employees, Where Are All the Good Jobs Going? provides a new take on some old issues, importantly on the relationship between job quality and job displacement and on strategies metropolitan areas can use to support new businesses that create good jobs."-Eileen Appelbaum. senior economist. Center for Economic and Policy Research

Deindustrialization in the United States has triggered record-setting joblessness in manufacturing centers from Detroit to Baltimore. At the same time, global competition and technological change have actually stimulated both new businesses and new jobs. The jury is still out, however, on how many of these positions represent a significant source of long-term job quality and security. Where Are All the Good Jobs Going? addresses the most pressing questions for today's workers: whether the U.S. labor market can still produce jobs with good pay for the majority of workers and whether these jobs can remain stable over time.

What constitutes a "good" job, who gets them, and are they becoming more or less sure? Where Are All the Good Jobs Going? examines U.S. job quality and volatility from the `perspectives of both workers and employers. The authors analyze the Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) data compiled the U.S. Census Bureau, and the book years data for twelve stages during twelve years, from 1992 to 2003, resulting in an precedented examination of workers arid ns in several industries overtime.

Counter to conventional wisdom, the authors find that good jobs are not disappearing, but that their character and location re changed. The market produces fewer good jobs in manufacturing and more in Sessional services and finance. Not surprisingly, the best jobs with the highest pay still to the most educated workers. The most vulnerable workers-older, low-income, and low-skilled-work in the most insecure environments where they can be easily downsized or displaced by a fickle labor market. A higher federal minimum wage and increased unionization can contribute to the creation of well-paying jobs. So can economic strategies that help smaller metropolitan areas support new businesses. These efforts, however, must function in tandem with policies that prepare workers for available positions, such as improving general educational attainment and providing career education.

Where Are All the Good Jobs Going? makes clear that future policies will need to address not only how to produce good jobs but how to produce good workers. This cohesive study takes the necessary first steps with a sensible approach to the needs of workers and the firms that hire them.