The Atlantic

Low-Wage Jobs Are Becoming Middle-Class Jobs

Millions of low-income families are experiencing less financial stress and even a modicum of comfort.
Source: Illustration by Matt Chase / The Atlantic

Last month, Target announced that it would pay new employees as much as $24 an hour and extend health benefits to anyone working at least 25 hours a week. The company is hardly the only one coughing up cash to lure in new workers or retain those on staff. Starbucks recently set a national minimum wage of $15. McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, and Subway franchises have been offering signing incentives. Lowe’s is giving bonuses to hourly workers this month.

This is good news. What is even better is that such pay bumps are not just a recent trend. After a brutal few decades in which low-wage jobs proliferated

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