How the Recession 'Upskilled' Your Job

The Great Recession profoundly transformed the American landscape of work. Roughly 9 million jobs disappeared from 2007 to 2010. Occupational wages tanked. Overqualified workers flocked to underpaying jobs. Employers not only cut positions—they eliminated occupations they could automate, thanks to new technology. The share of the American workforce with jobs that primarily consist of routine tasks reportedly plummeted to about 25 percent in 2008, after declining steadily from 35 percent in 1970.

Even as the economy has recovered and the U.S. has gained jobs, it’s been in two divergent tiers: low-wage work that still requires some thinking on your feet, like food service, and in much higher-wage occupations that require expanded cognitive and analytical skills.