Pay for new hires is falling in some blue-collar jobs

foxbusiness.com:

Tools & Tiaras founder Judaline Cassidy discusses the entrance of women in skill trades and how her camp introduces young girls to them.

Some jobs just don't pay what they used to.

Data from ZipRecruiter shows the wages employers are offering new hires in several blue-collar sectors of the labor market have declined this year from 2023, with retail wages falling the most by 55.9%, followed by agriculture (-24.5%), manufacturing (-17.3%) and transportation (-13.9%).

Construction at the Toll Brothers Borello Ranch Estates housing community in Morgan Hill, California on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. The pay being offered to new recruits in several blue-collar industries, including construction, has fallen on average over (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

«Average posted pay has risen since last year, both overall and in most job categories,» ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak told FOX Business. «But trends have diverged across different parts of the economy, with growth picking up in white-collar sectors, and slowing down in blue-collar sectors.»

Pollak says part of this is post-pandemic economic normalization and mean reversion, but part of it is due to the steep hiring slowdown that has taken place in the private sector outside of the healthcare industry.

YOUNG FEMALE CONSTRUCTION WORKER MAKES $53 AN HOUR, AVOIDS STUDENT LOANS

«Several other indicators also show that competition for talent has eased,» the economist said. «For example, the spread between wage growth for job switchers and job stayers was as large as 2.8 percentage points in August 2022, but has since fallen to just 0.5 percentage points (according to the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker).»

Data suggests employers