Table 7
Employment shares in low-paying occupations, 1979–2007
| Employment Shares | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occupation wage category* | 1979 | 1989 | 1999 | 2007 |
| Lowest ‘decile’ | 10.2% | 10.4% | 10.2% | 10.8% |
| Service occupations | 7.2 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 8.4 |
| Other occupations | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.3 |
| Second ‘decile’ | 10.9 | 10.1 | 9.5 | 9.3 |
| Service occupations | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.5 |
| Other occupations | 8.5 | 7.6 | 7.1 | 6.7 |
| Lowest ‘fifth’ | 21.1 | 20.5 | 19.7 | 20.0 |
| Service occupations | 9.6 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 11.0 |
| Other occupations | 11.5 | 10.3 | 9.6 | 9.1 |
* Sorted by mean wage in 1979. The lowest decile has 18 occupations. The second decile has 26 occupations.
These are CPS ORG tabulations using Autor-Dorn occupation coding crosswalk. Service occupations exclude public safety occupations. Employment is hours-weighted. Employment trends are adjusted to remove inconsistencies due to coding changes in 1983 and 2003. Agriculture is excluded.
Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata
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