On Friday, the BLS updated hourly wages and jobs information. Let's backtrack to the start of the recovery for details.

Hourly Wages by Job Classification

Year-over-year, hourly wages are up 2.6%. That is barely keeping up with inflation, assuming you believe BLS consumer price statistics.

Regardless, it certainly makes a huge difference where you work. Those in leisure and hospitality make an average of $15.83 per hour. Those working in utilities make an average of $40.34 per hour.

Five Lowest Paying Job Classifications

Note: Fred did not have a download for “other services” so I skipped it.

Five Highest Paying Job Classifications

Clearly, the only standout here is professional and business services, the 5th best paying classification.

Middle Three Paying Job Classifications

Jobs in 2001 vs 2010 vs 2018

Since 2001, the big three job gainers are education and healthcare, professional services, and leisure and hospitality.

Education and healthcare, the top gainer, is a mixture of high paying professional nursing jobs and low paying home care or other caregiver jobs.

Many job classifications are stagnant or worse.

Jobs Gained in the Recovery

There are many ways to spin this data, but none of them look particularly promising. Job growth in the top four paying classifications has been very weak.

The one bright spot is job growth in the professional and business service category, a well-paying classification. How long those gains can last is unknown.

Jobs gains in the two lowest paying classifications exceed gains in professional services.

Strong Jobs Recovery?

The much-ballyhooed jobs recovery is a bit suspect.