Despite five consecutive years of job growth, Kentucky’s economy is yet to fully recover from the Great Recession and faces longer-term troubling trends when it comes to job quality. The unemployment rate has been dropping, but so has the share of workers participating in the labor force. Real wages have been falling or declining for many workers — as has median household income — and the industry with the biggest increase in employment is temp agencies. Job growth has been concentrated in a minority of counties, while much of rural Kentucky continues to struggle from a lack of opportunities.
KCEP made the following presentation on the status of workers as part of the Kentucky AFL-CIO’s 2015 biennial convention.
