The reported death of the middle economy is greatly exaggerated. There are 30 million good jobs in the United States today that pay without a BA (bachelor’s degree). These good jobs have median earnings of $55,000 annually (Figure 1). Traditionally, many people with good jobs that pay without a BA have worked in manufacturing. Those jobs are declining while the number of good jobs in skilled-services industries, such as health services and financial services, is increasing.
These trends vary across states. Twenty-three states gained good blue-collar jobs from 1991 to 2015. For instance, Utah had a 105 percent increase in good blue-collar jobs, and Nevada had a 50 percent increase. However, many Northeast and Midwest states saw steep declines: Rhode Island lost 39 percent of its good blue-collar jobs for workers without BAs during this period. New York saw a 31 percent decline in these jobs, and Pennsylvania saw a 27 percent decline. Good jobs in skilled-services industries increased in most states, growing by almost 200 percent in Arizona and 124 percent in Texas
