"The report defines a “good” job as one that offers decent pay (at least $16
per hour or about $32,000 per year), employer-paid health insurance, and a
pension. In 2004 (the most recent year for which data are available), only
25.2 percent of American workers had a job that met all three criteria.

"In both 1979 and 2004, about one-fourth of workers were in jobs that
qualified as “good” by the definition used here. The basically unchanged
good jobs rate across the two years suggests that the economy has failed to
convert long-term economic growth into an expanding supply of good jobs.

"After controlling for improvements between 1979 and 2004 in the “human
capital” of the U.S. workforce —American workers today are, on average,
older and much better educated than they were at the end of the 1970s—
the economy now produces 25 to 30 percent fewer good jobs than it did 25
years ago.

"In 2004, about one-fourth (26.6 percent) of Americans were in “bad” jobs,
defined as a job that pays less than $16, has no employer-provided health
insurance, and no pension. This is close to the share of Americans in bad
jobs in 1979 (27.9 percent)."