Employment rate soars, while paychecks fall Madeline Boreham 4th

This past Friday the Department of Labor released statistics revealing the increase of  252,000 jobs in December. Thus making 2014  have the strongest job growth in America since 1999.  Despite this growth, wages are remaining the same.  For working age men with a High School  education, their wages have dropped in the last 40 years. 
To some it is as easy as a policy response, but for others they are looking at a much longer plan; better training and education so people qualify for higher paying jobs. College is now being referred to the new High School stating that you need a college degree to get most jobs. President Obama released on Friday his plans to make community college free. This was the same thing they did with High School over a century ago.  This action payed off big time, so they are now hoping free college will get the same response.

This highlights a huge problem in the US today. We need to take steps towards higher education for everyone (if they are willing to learn) This will improve wages for people and help them get out of the graveyard shift. This connects with the Gilded Age, during that time the busts of big business ( oil, railroads, coal etc.) brought on many new jobs, but they didn't pay well at all. Entire families had to work just to support themselves.  Just because there are new job opportunities doesn't mean that the workers are being payed enough.  It is important that we provide a college opportunity, so these men and woman who might not have enough money can go to college and get a more sustainable job. 



This article was written by Chris Arnold for NPR. To read the full article click the link below.
http://www.npr.org/2015/01/10/376268795/employment-is-up-paychecks-not-so-much