ABSTRACT
The economic future for millions looks grim. Over two-thirds of the job growth projected to occur before 2016 will be in jobs which have a median income that will not provide a decent living for the Norman Rockwell family of four. Although much of the media and political rhetoric focuses on the need for an educated work-force capable of competing in the global marketplace, increasingly college graduates may find that the work available to them does not require a college education. Workers' ability to support their families is further limited by the structure of the workplace. Often employees today cannot work and receive pay for a forty-hour week at a single job. Many of the recent and projected economic changes will affect small towns, suburbs, and edge cities as well as city neighborhoods. Communities now vary greatly in the extent to which they provide decent jobs for their residents.
