The small Hudson Valley city of Poughkeepsie is now home to some of the best-paying summer jobs ever: $51.71 an hour. That’s right: $51.71 an hour. The project started off as perfectly sensible. The work involves restoring Fallkill Creek, damaged in last summer’s post-Hurricane Irene flooding. To get the job done and put up to 150 unemployed young people to work, the state Labor Department tapped a federal storm-cleanup grant. So far, so good: There’s work that needs to be done, people who need work and a way to pay for it all. But $51.71 an hour? Clearing debris and...