40 Years of Increased Productivity: Forty Years of Stagnant Wage Gains

The chart says it all.

Talking points is coming out with a new edition of their annual report according to the Bill Moyers Blog, this is a graph from that report. So why did this happen? This is what they say, “The big shift is really in the ’80s, which I would attribute to [Fed Chairman Paul] Volcker’s recession in 1980-82, which killed workers,” said Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, who has conducted similar studies. “A high dollar in the mid-80s amplified this effect. You also had the anti-union policies of the Reagan administration.”

Our public policy, basically Laizez-faire: globalization, deregulation, privatization, weakened unions and labor standards all have contributed to the wealth redistribution towards the top. The point is improved labor standards need to return with increased minimum wages (to half of the average wage as it was in the 60’s) and productivity linked with pay need to take place. Collective bargaining needs to come back significantly for things to change.

Unions, like other organizations, have overstepped their demands at times, as has corporate businesses and the like, however, healthy unions have been a hallmark of healthy equitable economics and a strong middle class. I find their report on target.