These days we’re told that the American economy is strong. Unemployment is down, the Dow Jones industrial average is north of 25,000, and millions of jobs are going unfilled.

But for many people the question is not, “Can I land a job?” The answer is almost certainly, yes, you can. Instead the question is, “What kinds of jobs are available to people without much education?” By and large, the answer is: jobs that do not pay enough to live on.

The decimation of organized labor caused by relentless political attacks from dark money funded right wing groups has led to the disappearance of good paying jobs. The New York Times describes our current dilemma well in the article: “Americans Want to Believe Jobs are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not.”