And , even if they don ' t realize it , those workers are better off because 1 service jobs pay betterDo they ? There are standouts , of course , but not everyone is going to be a manager or a lawyer or a senior software engineer . What are you looking at in the bulk of service sector mass employment to justify service jobs pay better ? and 2 the manufacturing that is left is high skilledcapital intensive and pays more . The distribution matters . If the transition to a service sector comes with a side of upwards redistribution with a hollowing out of the middle , that ' s a problem . For some reason this country fetishizes putting rivets on shit and wants people to regress to a 1960 ' s standard of livingNobody cares about putting rivets on shit , they ' re fetishizing job and income security consistent with a middle class lifestyle . That ' s not regressive .