Shifting middle class job market puts women in the driver's seat

The shifting job market for the middle class was the focus of a terrific series recently published by the New York Times, an effort that included numerous graphs and charts that showed Middle America -- from an economic standpoint -- is not only shrinking for many, but the paychecks are also coming from and to new types of industries and workers.

The types of jobs that pay middle-class wages — between $40,000 and $80,000 in 2014 dollars — have shifted since 1980. Fewer of these positions are in male-dominated production occupations, while a greater share are in workplaces more open to women, the Times reported.
At the same time, manufacturing jobs that have long been dominated by men -- and did not require a college degree -- have declined precipitously.

Here are some of the highlights from the Times that indicate the economic tide is turning in favor of women seeking good-paying middle class professions:
* Registered nurses and other speciality occupations accounted for the largest share of growth in the middle-class wage range. In 1980, 19 of every 1,000 middle-class jobs were held by registered nurses. Today, the rate is 39 per 1,000.

* In 1980, 1.4 million jobs in health care paid a middle-class wage (again, $40,000 to $80,000 a year in today’s money). Now, the figure is 4.5 million. The pay of registered nurses — now the third-largest middle-income occupation and one that continues to be overwhelmingly female — has risen strongly along with the increasing demands of the job. The median salary of $61,000 a year in 2012 was 55 percent greater, adjusted for inflation, than it was three decades earlier.

* Economists at the Labor Department project that by 2022, as baby boomers age, health care and social assistance will absorb nearly 20 percent of consumer spending, double the share of manufactured goods. The sector is expected to support over 21 million jobs, five million more than today. This includes half a million more registered nurses.
* For all the troubles associated with traditionally male jobs, women have not had an easy ride through the economic turmoil, either.

“The occupational structure has not somehow become more women-friendly,” David Autor, an economist at M.I.T. who has studied the changing American job market, told the Times. In fact, he added, “the hollowing out of middle-skill jobs was larger for women than for men.”The process intensified sharply during the financial crisis and the ensuing economic downturn.

But in general women have reacted much better, climbing the educational ladder to capture more of the better jobs. Today, 38 percent of women in their late 20s and early 30s have a college degree, compared with 15 percent 40 years ago. The completion rate for young men is now 7 percentage points lower than for women — back then it was 7 points higher.

Beyond nursing and other health care-related fields, female-friendly professions that are on the rise include legal assistants, accountants and financial managers, HR specialists and insurance adjusters.
These two charts that shows the fastest growing and shrinking middle class occupations. Those occupations on the downside are all dominated by male workers.

	Jobs per 1,000 middle-class jobs
Top 20 occupations that gained share	1980	2012	Change
Registered nurses	19	39	+20
Mathematical and computer scientists	6	25	+19
Supervisors and proprietors of sales jobs	18	34	+16
Adjusters and investigators	6	22	+15
Managers and administrators	70	84	+14
Health technologists and technicians	8	21	+13
Other teachers and counselors	7	19	+12
Elementary school teachers	41	51	+9
Health therapists	3	11	+8
Accountants and auditors	15	23	+8
Health assistants	4	11	+7
Writers, artists, entertainers and athletes	11	18	+7
Legal assistants and aides	1	6	+6
Personal service occupations	3	8	+5
Police and detectives	14	18	+4
Management analysts	1	6	+4
Financial managers	6	10	+4
Food preparation and service occupations	6	10	+4
Financial specialists	5	9	+3
Personnel and human resources specialists	7	9	+3
College professors/instructors	9	11	+3
Managers in education and related fields	6	8	+3
Social workers	7	9	+2
Physicians, dentists, and other health diagnosing	4	7	+2
Natural scientists	5	7	+2
Social scientists and urban planners	3	5	+2
Helpers and laborers	7	9	+2
Software developers and numerical programmers	10	12	+2
Supervisors of motor vehicle transportation	1	2	+2
Office supervisors	13	15	+2
Lawyers	4	6	+1
Billing clerks and related financial records processing	3	5	+1
Recreation workers	<1	1	+1
Child care workers	1	2	+1
Clergy and religious workers	4	5	+1
Insurance underwriters	<1	1	+1
Secretaries	25	26	+1
Human resources and labor relations managers	3	4	+1
Purchasing managers	5	5	+1
Supervisors of mechanics and repairers	3	4	+1
Water and sewage treatment plant operators	1	1	+1
Supervisors of guards	<1	1	<+1
Guards	5	5	<+1
Hairdressers, barbers, and cosmetologists	3	3	<+1
Dietitians and nutritionists	1	1	<+1
Farming, forestry, and fishing occupations	8	8	<+1
Private household occupations	1	1	<+1
Broadcast equipment operators	1	1	<+1
Construction inspectors	1	1	<+1
Airplane pilots and navigators	1	1	<+1
Business and promotion agents	<1	<1	<+1
Sales demonstrators / promoters / models	<1	<1	<+1

	Jobs per 1,000 middle-class jobs
Top 20 occupations that lost share	1980	2012	Change
Machine operators and tenders, except precision	51	18	-33
Production supervisors or foremen	33	11	-23
Construction trades, except electricians	38	24	-15
Freight, stock and material handlers	25	11	-14
Assemblers of electrical equipment	15	6	-9
Precision metal working occupations	15	6	-9
Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics and repairers	31	22	-9
Truck, delivery and tractor drivers	39	31	-8
Transporation occupations	14	7	-8
Material recording, scheduling and distributing clerks	23	16	-7
Graders and sorters in manufacturing	13	6	-7
Welders and metal cutters	11	5	-6
Engineering and related technologists and technicians	17	10	-6
Sales representatives, commodities	43	38	-5
Engineers	20	15	-5
Mail and message distributing occupations	15	10	-5
High school teachers	17	12	-5
Printing machine operators	6	2	-4
Precision workers, except metal	10	7	-3
Janitors and other commercial building services	14	11	-3
Mechanics and repairers	13	10	-3
Telephone operators	3	<1	-3
Administrative support	18	15	-3
Office machine operators	5	3	-3
Textile, apparel, and furnishings machine operators	3	1	-2
Supervisors of construction work	11	9	-2
Electrical and electronic equipment repairers	14	12	-2
Sales representatives, finance and business services	15	13	-2
Military	10	8	-2
Plant and system operators, stationary engineers	2	1	-1
Pharmacists	2	1	-1
Bookkeepers and accounting and auditing clerks	11	9	-1
Extractive occupations	3	2	-1
Science technicians	2	1	-1
Electricians	10	8	-1
Firefighting, prevention and inspection	5	4	-1
Managers and specialists in marketing, advertising and public relations	10	9	-1
Plant and system operators	1	<1	<-1
Buyers, wholesale and retail trade	2	2	<-1
Bus/taxi drivers and parking lot attendants	5	4	<-1
Information clerks and records processing occupations, except financial	10	10	<-1
Librarians, archivists, and curators	3	2	<-1
Inspectors and compliance officers, outside construction	3	3	<-1
Air traffic controllers	<1	<1	<-1
Purchasing agents and buyers, of farm products	<1	<1	<-1
Power plant operators	1	<1	<-1