Service Jobs Should Be — and Can Be — Middle-Class Jobs

America is losing its one-time healthy middle class and desperately wants it back. But how? Some say reviving manufacturing jobs. Some say redistributing existing wealth. Some say a universal basic income. Academics are fond of upskilling and lifelong education. Even U.S. CEOs are now saying that they need to create more higher-paying jobs. But what almost no one talks about is how we can improve the low-wage jobs — mostly in the service sector — that already exist. We can’t build a large enough middle class without improving these jobs. Several very successful retail chains, with different business models, have already figured out how to do it.