Average real wages from 2002 to 2007 increased only 0.41 percent when adjusted for inflation, and the slow increase is tied to a shift in lower-paying occupations in the U.S., according to a new report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Many studies attribute slow wage growth to the increasing cost of employee benefits and health insurance—a phenomenon that results in employees’ wages becoming a smaller part of their total compensation,” BLS economist Rebecca Keller says. However, her research shows that a shift in employment to¬wards lower paying occupations has hindered wage growth, and that most of the average wage growth that had occurred was due to increases in the wages of the highest paying occupations. Her analysis also finds a shift in employment towards the highest paying and lowest paying occupations and away from middle-paying occupations during the study period.