VIEW INTERACTIVE on epi.org Since 1979, productivity has risen eight times faster than pay Disconnect between productivity and typical worker’s compensation, 1948–2013 300% Productivity Hourly compensation 250 243.1% 200 150 100 108.9% 50 -50 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Note: From 1948 to 1979, net productivity rose 108.1 percent, and hourly compensation (of production/nonsupervisory workers in the pri- vate sector) increased 93.4 percent. From 1979 to 2013, productivity rose 64.9 percent, and hourly compensation rose 8.0 percent. Source: EPI analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis Updated from Figure A in group in relative terms—only saw their wages grow in line with economy-wide average wage growth. This means that wage growth of workers in the bottom 90 percent of the wage distribution was actually below average. 4 Over the entire 34-year period between 1979 and 2013, hourly wages for the bottom 70 percent of American workers grew less than 11 percent. Expressed as an annual average, this comes out to yearly wage growth of 0.3 percent or less. Furthermore, take a look at the late 1990s: Nearly all the wage growth of the bottom 70 percent of wage earners hap- pened in that brief period when labor markets got tight enough—unemployment fell to 4 percent for a two-year spell in 1999 and 2000—to finally deliver across-the-board hourly wage growth. 5 The most extreme wage disparities are between the of large American corporations and typical workers. This fig- ure tracks the ratio of pay of CEOs at the 350 largest public U.S. firms and typical workers in those firms’ industries. In 1965, these CEOs made 20 times what typical workers made. But as of 2013, they make just under 300 times typical workers’ pay.
VIEW INTERACTIVE on epi.org Since 1979, productivity has risen eight times faster than pay Disconnect between productivity and typical worker’s compensation, 1948–2013 300% 250 Productivity Hourly compensation 243.1% 200 150 100 108.9% 50 -50 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Note: From 1948 to 1979, net productivity rose 108.1 percent, and hourly compensation (of production/nonsupervisory workers in the pri- vate sector) increased 93.4 percent. From 1979 to 2013, productivity rose 64.9 percent, and hourly compensation rose 8.0 percent. Source: EPI analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis Updated from Figure A in group in relative terms—only saw their wages grow in line with economy-wide average wage growth. This means that wage growth of workers in the bottom 90 percent of the wage distribution was actually below average. 4 Over the entire 34-year period between 1979 and 2013, hourly wages for the bottom 70 percent of American workers grew less than 11 percent. Expressed as an annual average, this comes out to yearly wage growth of 0.3 percent or less. Furthermore, take a look at the late 1990s: Nearly all the wage growth of the bottom 70 percent of wage earners hap- pened in that brief period when labor markets got tight enough—unemployment fell to 4 percent for a two-year spell in 1999 and 2000—to finally deliver across-the-board hourly wage growth. 5 The most extreme wage disparities are between the of large American corporations and typical workers. This fig- ure tracks the ratio of pay of CEOs at the 350 largest public U.S. firms and typical workers in those firms’ industries. In 1965, these CEOs made 20 times what typical workers made. But as of 2013, they make just under 300 times typical workers’ pay.
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