GOOD PAYING vs WELL PAYING

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good paying vs well paying jobsA well-paying job is a job that pays well, while a good-paying job is a good job that pays.
As a compound word, well-paying is obviously correct as there should be an adverb (well) to modify the participle (paying).

As good-paying is also used by more and more people in informal speech, it cannot be considered incorrect either, but it should be avoided.

  • As long as I’ve got a well-paying job here, I’m not going to relocate.
  • We need to get more well-paying clients to keep our business alive.
  • President Barack Obama made a strong case during Tuesday night’s debate for how his administration would create “not just jobs,” but “good-paying jobs.” (Source)

Note
A well-paid job is a job that is paid well, which means that you are paid well in the job:

  • They offer quite many well-paid jobs at the new IT company.

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Doug
Doug
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4 years ago

If it we’re referencing a good job that pays well, it would be “a good, paying job.” When hyphenated, good-paying is simply grammatically incorrect, since it connects the modifier “good” to the verb. The same issue arises with phrases like “good-fitting clothing.”