Boston's Median Income is $35,000, and It's Not Moving: Report

Boston, MA – The city's unemployment rate is down, but many working people still struggle to make ends meet, while Boston wages stay stuck in about 1986, according to a labor report out Tuesday.

MP3s have replaced cassette tapes, smartphones have usurped the car phone and slap bracelets have been swapped out for Fitbits, but Boston's median wage stubbornly remains at roughly $35,273. A quarter of full-time employees make less than that, as do almost half of Boston's total labor force participants.

The research comes from the mayor's Office of Workforce Development, in a report out Tuesday entitled “Boston's Workforce: An Assessment of Labor Market Outcomes and Opportunities."

Part of Mayor Martin Walsh's income inequality platform, the study Tuesday dovetails with a previous Brooking's Institute report that identified Boston as America's "most income-unequal city." Both reports suggest many new jobs added since the 2008 recession constitute part-time or lower-paying gigs, such as restaurant workers.

The hope is that the data informs approaches to bridging the gulf between Boston's highest-paid workers and its lowest, a burden that disproportionately impacts people of color, immigrants and non-native English speakers, according to the report.

Three other takeaways:

• Education an especially powerful factor. Over three-quarters of the city's nursing jobs require only an associate's degree, but 80 percent of Boston's nurses possess a bachelor's degree, suggesting that college degree-holders are competing for jobs traditionally available to those with less education.
• The importance of education. By 2022, 41 percent of Boston jobs are expected to require a bachelor's degree (compared to 27 percent nationally), and 36 percent will be available to those with a high school degree or less (compared to 50 percent nationally).
• People without college degrees. The report predicts that Boston’s growing construction, healthcare and social assistance sectors will offer greater opportunities for job entry, advancement and wage growth for those without a degree.

As early as this summer, the Office of Workforce Development will issue recommendations for best aligning program efforts with the needs highlighted in the report, in addition to efforts already underway.

>> Image from City of Boston Office of Workforce Development report.