There are two major issues in the job market today. One is job creation, which has been painfully slow. The other is the quality of jobs being created – measured mainly by their pay.

There is worry that a large number of new jobs are at the lower end of the pay scale. This would imply a job market that is “bottom heavy,” shaped sort of like a water buoy.Actually, this description is not quite correct. A better image would be a weight room dumbbell. Like a dumbbell that has heavy weights on both sides with a thin handle in-between, the jobs being generated today are largely at the low-end and the top-end of the pay scale with few middle-paying jobs.

A recent study confirmed this description for the national economy. During the last two years of job growth, the occupations increasing in numbers most quickly were food preparers and personal care workers at the low end of the pay scale, and management, computer, finance and advanced health care practitioners at the high end. Middle-paying jobs in construction and teaching actually experienced losses.

Similar results occurred in North Carolina. From 2010 to 2012, the largest job gains were in food prep and personal care with relatively low wages and in finance and advanced health care with relatively high wages. In our state, the number of protective service jobs – paying mid-level wages – also increased significantly.

Michael Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at N.C. State University.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/12/3189384/the-real-shape-of-the-nc-job-market.html##storylink=cpy