Lost factory jobs make it harder to move into middle class, report says

For EJ Jenkins, steel has played a vital role in his life and his hometown.

“You had factory plants pretty much all throughout the city and that created a lot of employment,” says Jenkins, 44, who has worked in a steel mill in Gary, Indiana, for nearly 22 years. “That’s one way Gary back in those days was able to thrive. But a lot has happened since then. A lot of businesses closed. … A lot of our citizens have left for better opportunity.”