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December 2006

Change in employment by occupation, industry, and earnings quartile, 2000?05

Randy Ilg

An examination of employment changes from 2000 to 2005 in occupations and industries by earnings quartiles provides new insight into distinguishing between higher paying "good" jobs and lower paying "bad" jobs. For example, although employment in the construction industry grew by 1.1 million and declined by 3.3 million in manufacturing over the period, the gains in construction occurred in relatively low-paying jobs, while job losses in manufacturing were more widely distributed throughout the earnings quartiles. This article looks at how the composition of employment by occupation and industry changed across the earnings spectrum from 2000 to 2005.

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