15 Disappearing Middle-Class Jobs
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A startling number of middle-class jobs may be headed toward extinction.
More than any other job class, mid-level positions have struggled to recover from the recession, and only a quarter of jobs created in the past three years are categorized as mid-wage. There a re high-skilled professional jobs that require college degrees and low-skilled service jobs for less educated workers, but the middle is getting squeezed.
We took a look at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see just how anemic the middle-class job market is in America. While there's no one definition of "middle class," economists generally agree that mid-level jobs require between a high school diploma and a bachelor's degree, earn on average $13.84 to $21.13 an hour, and are non-supervisory office or production roles.
From the BLS data, we identified these 15 middle-class jobs that are expected to shrink by 5% to 25% over the next 10 years:
Mechanical drafters
Projected 10-year decline: 4.9%
Average annual salary: $50,360
Education requirements: Associate’s degree
Insurance appraisers, auto damage
Projected 10-year decline: 5.3%
Average annual salary: $58,610
Education requirements: Postsecondary non-degree award
Insurance underwriters
Projected 10-year decline: 6.5%
Average annual salary: $62,870
Education requirements: Bachelor’s degree
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service
Projected 10-year decline: 8.8%
Average annual salary: $26,900
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Prepress technicians and workers
Projected 10-year decline: 12.9%
Average annual salary: $37,260
Education requirements: Postsecondary non-degree award
Telephone operators
Projected 10-year decline: 13.1%
Average annual salary: $32,850
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Switchboard operators, including answering service
Projected 10-year decline: 13.2%
Average annual salary: $25,370
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Reporters and correspondents
Projected 10-year decline: 13.8%
Average annual salary: $35,870
Education requirements: Bachelor’s degree
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks
Projected 10-year decline: 14.0%
Average annual salary: $32,400
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Embalmers
Projected 10-year decline: 15.0%
Average annual salary: $42,240
Education requirements: Postsecondary non-degree award
Door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors
Projected 10-year decline: 15.3%
Average annual salary: $21,470
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Computer operators
Projected 10-year decline: 17.0%
Average annual salary: $38,390
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Postmasters and mail superintendents
Projected 10-year decline: 24.2%
Average annual salary: $63,050
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Data entry keyers
Projected 10-year decline: 24.6%
Average annual salary: $28,010
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
Word processors and typists
Projected 10-year decline: 25.1%
Average annual salary: $35,270
Education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
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