For more than a decade, the United States has produced more new jobs than most other industrialized nations--nearly 20 million new jobs during 1973-1984. However, none of the aggregate numbers reveals anything about the types of jobs created or how much they pay. The following facts are pertinent: (1) compared to the period 1973-1979, the net new employment created between 1979 and 1984 has occurred disproportionately at the low extreme of the wage salary distribution (i.e., below $7,000 in 1984 dollars); (2) between 1979 and 1984, the number of workers earning more than the 1973 median ($14,024 in 1984 dollars) actually declined by 1.8 million, while workers earning less increased by some 9.9 million; (3) white women continued to show small gains in their access to higher wage jobs, but the proportion of women in low-wage employment also increased; (4) employment for minority men and women shows a renewed trend toward low wages; (5) the disproportionate expansion of the low-wage sector is especially prevalent among younger workers; (6) the trend toward low-wage employment is greatest in the Midwest; and (7) the tendency toward low wages holds for year-round full-time workers as well as for those who do not work as often. In sum, the economic restructuring of the 1980s has left in its wake a proliferation of low-wage jobs. If this pattern continues, the standard of living of a growing proportion of the American work force will be significantly jeopardized. (KC)