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- As the US heads into the next decade, more than half of the 10 fastest-growing jobs are expected to pay less than $27,000 a year, according to data from the Labor Department.
- One in nine US workers are currently paid wages that could still leave them in poverty, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
- The prospect of more poor-paying jobs in the 2020s could widen the already-pointed debate over inequality in the US as Democratic presidential candidates propose varying methods to rein it in.
- Here are the 10 occupations that the Labor Department projects to have the most job gains over the next decade.
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As the United States heads into the next decade, six of the 10 fastest-growing jobs are expected to pay less than $27,000 a year, according to data from the Labor Department.
One in nine full-time workers in the US are currently paid wages that could still leave them in poverty, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. And the prospect of more poor-paying jobs in the 2020s could widen the already-pointed debate over inequality in the US as Democratic presidential candidates propose varying methods to rein it in.
They range from additional taxes on Wall Street to a wealth tax on the richest US taxpayers to fund sweeping progressive initiatives like universal healthcare or tuition-free college. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been the most forceful advocates calling to tackle the problem.
Income inequality in the US has already reached its highest level since tracking started a half-century ago, the Census Bureau reported in September - while at the same time, unemployment has reached historic 50-year lows. That signals this historic period of economic expansion has failed to cut inequality.
Here are the occupations that the Labor Department projects to have the most job gains over the next decade, organized from the lowest to highest salaries.