Many factors have contributed to declining work opportunities for large segments of the workforce, including the loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs. The decline in relatively secure and well-paying jobs in manufacturing, which have been replaced by less secure and poorly-paid jobs in the service sector, has greatly limited the opportunities for poorly-educated and low-skilled segments of the population. This transformation has led to an unprecedented incidence of chronic unemployment and underemployment. (Hardin, 379) "Underemployment is an especially useful measure of the decline in secure jobs since, unlike the unemployment rate, measures of underemployment reflect not only individuals who are unemployed, but also involuntary part-timers and those who have given up seeking work." (Hardin, 263) In addition to increasing underemployment, an estimated 29.4% of the workforce are employed in nonstandard work arrangements, for example, independent contracting, working for a temporary help agency, day labor, and regular part-time employment. These kinds of work arrangements typically offer lower wages, fewer benefits, and less job security.

             "As recently as 1967, a year-round worker earning the minimum wage was paid enough to raise a family of three above the poverty line" (Sklar, 103). From 1981-1990, however, "the minimum wage was frozen at $3.35 an hour, while the cost of living increased 48% over the same period. Congress raised the minimum wage to $5.15 per hour in 1996. This increase made up only slightly more than half of the ground lost to inflation in the 1980s" (Hardin, 191). Thus, full-time year-round minimum-wage earnings currently not equal to the estimated poverty line for a family of three. Unsurprisingly, the decline in the value of the minimum wage has been accompanied by an increase in the number of people earning poverty-level wages and the declining wages have put housing out of reach for many workers, in every state.