Something to think about (pdf):
The Center's analysis shows that despite the “new economy,” high-tech jobs are not eliminating traditional occupations that pay traditional wages. Retail sales workers, teachers, food preparation workers, cashiers, and janitors are all on the U.S. Department of Labor's list of 10 occupations with the largest projected job growth for 2002–2012. The point is large numbers of working families will continue to earn their incomes from these and other traditional occupations with similar earnings.
Meanwhile, housing costs, both rental and homeownership, are beyond comfortable reach for many working families. Nationally in 2003, in order to afford a two-bedroom
apartment (using the not more than the 30 percent of income rule of thumb), a worker would have had to earn $15.21 per hour. But the national median wages of a retail sales worker and a janitor were $8.82 and $8.98, respectively. In some local markets the gap is much larger.
I'll have much more to say on this type of thing soon, but for now, that says a whole helluva lot about our economy's direction, not to mention the sustainability of the housing market. Workers in many of the country's fastest growing sectors will not be able to afford decent housing. Wage subsidies like the EITC might help them over the hump, but the promise of a middle class lifestyle will remain, save for some radical legislative changes, an empty dream.
