All because guarding inmates is among the steadiest, best-paying jobs a man from the North Country can find.

Men, for example, still hold most of the best-paying jobs in manufacturing, which has been particularly hard hit in recent years.

When the company loses its franchise, we lose the best-paying jobs in the System.

Here, as in many small towns, the poultry plants offer the best-paying job in town.

In fact, those are the best-paying jobs in Dahl, which is the only reason we get people to work down here.

At $6.40 an hour, it was among the best-paying jobs in town for a high school graduate.

"It's the best-paying job in this state," says Mr. Gunnoe, who hours earlier filled out an application with a local mine.

"So the best we can do is try to find her the best-paying part-time job in the area and find ways to get her transport."

Securities firms like Merrill Lynch, which control many of the best-paying jobs in the country, are almost entirely led by white, middle-aged men.

Its hotels, many of them operated or partly owned by foreign companies, offered some of the best-paying jobs in the country.