[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-325718-105":59,"doc-detail-325718-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","are-service-sector-jobs-inferior-economic-commentary","Are Service-Sector Jobs Inferior? - Economic Commentary","","Economic commentary by Max Dupuy and Mark E. Schweitzer evaluates whether service-sector jobs are inferior to goods-producing employment. Using labor-market statistics, it argues that overall job creation and wage comparisons based on averages can mislead. The analysis emphasizes wage distributions and median values, showing substantial overlap between sectors and a narrowing wage gap over time. It further examines differences across narrower industries and highlights drivers such as worker preferences and skill requirements.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/are-service-sector-jobs-inferior-economic-commentary/325718/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/are-service-sector-jobs-inferior-economic-commentary/325718.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Miles","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the commentary say the “service jobs are inferior” claim is inappropriate?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It argues the claim rests on an unfounded assumption about pay differences, relies too heavily on average wages instead of the broader salary range, and incorrectly treats new labor-force entrants as limited to low-wage net-creation industries.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What measure does the commentary prefer when comparing wages between sectors?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It emphasizes median wages rather than averages, because median better reflects what most workers earn and avoids distortion from a small group of higher-paid workers.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the commentary describe differences in wages across specific industries within the service sector?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It explains that service-producing industries are diverse, with different wage distribution shapes and wide variation—for example, retail trade and transportation/public utilities showing notably different median wages.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},325718,1790198609,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},13056703019404,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","by Max Dupuy and Mark E.Schweitzer  \nU.S.manufacturers eliminated 65,000more jobs than they added last month.There was growth overall—non-manufacturing employment rose by198,000 jobs—but these service-sectorjobs are precisely the lower-paying,benefit-scarce \"hamburger flipping\"kind that candidate Clinton scorned asnot good enough to sparkthe Americaneconomic renewal he promised.  \n—The Washington Post,May 13,1993  \nIn recent years,U.S.service-producingindustries have,on net,added jobs morerapidly than the goods-producing indus-tries.Since the end of 1990,jobs inthe service-producing sector have in-creased 4.1 percent overall,while goods-producing employment has shrunk 5.6percent.²During the same period,totalnonfarm employment has risen 1.9 per-cent.Anumber of commentators haveused these basic statistics to paint a bleakpicture:The economy is creating somenew jobs and employing a few morepeople,but only in low-wage service po-sitions;meanwhile,the old high-wagemanufacturing jobs are disappearing.  \nThis characterization is inappropriatefor three reasons.First,it takes forgranted a largely unfounded assertionthat service jobs pay considerably lesson average than manufacturing jobs.Second,it focuses on average wage dif-ferences,which are trivial compared tothe wide range of salaries available ineither sector.Third,it implies that newentrants to the labor force—youngworkers—are limited to finding jobs inthe industries with net job creation.Inreality,gross job creation is the correctmeasure of the availability of work inany sector.  \n# Are Service-Sector Jobs Inferior?\n\nIn this Economic Commentary,we arguethat the service-producing industries nowoffer wage opportunities very similar tothose in manufacturing and construction.This finding holds for both broad and nar-row industry classifications,as well asor young workers.We do,however,seea larger difference between wages in thegoods-and service-producing sectors forworkers with only a high school diploma.  \n## ■ Goods-Producing vs.Service-Producing Jobs—An Overview\n\nIt is unreasonable to describe service-producing employment,which ac-counts for nearly 80 percent of U.S.nonfarm jobs,as \"lower paying.\"In1992,the average weekly wage for full-time workers in this sector was only  \n3.9 percent below the average goods-producing wage.³  \nHowever,average wages can be mis-leading,since they often draw attentionto the small difference between verysimilar pay ranges.Figure 1 comparesthe distribution of wages in the goods-producing sector to that in the service-producing industries.These distributionshave been smoothed to stress a point:Although the average service wage isless than the mean goods-producingwage,the overlap of the two distribu-tions is enormous.At almost any wagerate,there is nearly the same proportionof workers in both sectors.  \nFurthermore,the two distributions havebeen moving closer since about 1980.Figure 2 plots the difference betweenthe median goods-producing wage andthe median service-producing wage.Themedian is a more appropriate measurethan the average because,in nearly allindustries,a few people earn relatively  \nFebruary 1,1994  \nMisconceptions about the relativequality of jobs available to workers invarious industries abound.One of themost difficult to dispel is the idea thatjobs in the goods-producing sectorare uniformly superior.Over the last15 years,goods-producing wageshave fallen as service-sector pay hasincreased,with the result that serviceworkers now generally earn about thesame as their counterparts in manu-facturing.Consequently,policy thatfavors goods-producing employmentis not necessarily a sensible strategyfor generating high-wage opportuni-ties for American workers.  \nlarge amounts while most workers clus-ter around some lower wage.This isevident in the asymmetric shape of thedistributions in figure 1.The highwages of the top-paid minority tend topull the average above what the major-ity earns.The median,in contrast,is abetter measure of what most worke","cbCaimUstj0YeQfi","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimUstj0YeQfi","pdf",1234393,"English","# Are Service-Sector Jobs Inferior?\n## ■ Goods-Producing vs.Service-Producing Jobs—An Overview\n## ■ Comparing Narrower Industries","[{\"question\":\"Why does the commentary say the “service jobs are inferior” claim is inappropriate?\",\"answer\":\"It argues the claim rests on an unfounded assumption about pay differences, relies too heavily on average wages instead of the broader salary range, and incorrectly treats new labor-force entrants as limited to low-wage net-creation industries.\"},{\"question\":\"What measure does the commentary prefer when comparing wages between sectors?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes median wages rather than averages, because median better reflects what most workers earn and avoids distortion from a small group of higher-paid workers.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the commentary describe differences in wages across specific industries within the service sector?\",\"answer\":\"It explains that service-producing industries are diverse, with different wage distribution shapes and wide variation—for example, retail trade and transportation/public utilities showing notably different median wages.\"}]","Are Service-Sector Jobs Inferior? - Economic Commentary | PDF",1789971235,13]