Best Employers In Worst Industries

Good, middle-class positions that offer full-time benefits are getting harder to find. The booming sectors -- service and retail -- tend to offer low paying, part-time positions, with no benefits. But even in these crappy industries, there are a few employers that stand out for offering better pay and working conditions.

And according to Zeynep Ton, a professor of management at MIT's Sloan School of Management, the approach actually improves the bottom line. "When companies invest in their people, operations improve as a result," said Ton, who is writing a book called The Good Jobs Strategy: How The Smartest Companies Invest In Employees To Lower Costs and Boost Profits, due out in January. "If workers get proper training in multiple areas, have the ability to take ownership of their work and are not overworked, customer service improves and the business can prosper."

So which are the best employers in the worst industries? We scoured the web. Our list below is based on picks from Ton and The Hitachi Foundation, the Washington D.C.-based research foundation focused on improving conditions for low-wage Americans.