One-third of the Buffalo-Niagara workforce works in an occupation with a median wage of less than $15 per hour. Common low-wage occupations include food servers, retail salespeople, cashiers, personal care aides, receptionists, janitors, teacher assistants, nursing assistants, home health aides, and security guards. Buffalo-Niagara continues to lose middle-income jobs in sectors such as manufacturing, while gaining low-wage service sector jobs. Improving the wages, benefits, and quality of these jobs is essential to the health and equity of our region.