Richard Florida from The Atlantic’s CityLab analyzed the geography of job growth in America’s 100 largest metros over the last five years.
In that time, the U.S. economy added 12.2 million jobs. However, low-wage jobs (which pay less than $13.84 an hour) had the highest increase, rising by 4.5 million; 4.1 million high-wage jobs and 3.5 million mid-wage jobs were also added.
Most importantly, job growth was clustered. High-wage jobs grew the fastest in the Northeast and in Northern California, while low-wage job growth accelerated the quickest in Florida, Texas, and the Rustbelt.
If anything, America’s jobs divide has become even more pronounced in the past several years, with the gaps between a dozen or so big winners and the rest growing ever larger. America is not only beset by rising income inequality, it faces deepening regional inequality in jobs, wages, and opportunity as well.
