The gap between productivity and a typical worker’s compensation has increased dramatically since 1979: Productivity growth and hourly compensation growth, 1948–2020

 

’Year Effective TEP, net Nonsupervisory compensation
1948 45.79% 48.20%
1949 46.94 51.16
1950 50.33 53.14
1951 51.01 53.73
1952 52.61 55.32
1953 54.70 58.10
1954 55.82 59.35
1955 59.11 61.84
1956 60.14 64.30
1957 61.83 65.78
1958 62.89 66.21
1959 65.62 68.31
1960 66.62 69.74
1961 68.80 70.92
1962 71.61 73.09
1963 74.04 74.32
1964 76.63 81.46
1965 79.24 83.49
1966 81.68 84.79
1967 82.54 85.85
1968 85.39 88.11
1969 86.09 89.91
1970 87.70 91.20
1971 91.59 93.74
1972 95.29 98.78
1973 96.86 98.63
1974 94.20 96.64
1975 96.83 96.55
1976 99.27 97.90
1977 100.13 99.72
1978 101.27 101.20
1979 100.00 100.00
1980 97.34 97.34
1981 99.08 97.02
1982 98.22 97.22
1983 101.22 97.67
1984 103.66 96.94
1985 105.31 96.50
1986 107.80 97.07
1987 107.16 95.75
1988 108.68 95.44
1989 109.43 95.43
1990 109.81 94.64
1991 110.51 94.48
1992 114.82 95.12
1993 115.31 95.28
1994 116.37 95.52
1995 116.47 94.95
1996 117.94 95.01
1997 119.78 96.04
1998 122.25 98.33
1999 124.88 99.66
2000 126.39 100.17
2001 127.91 101.61
2002 131.66 103.62
2003 136.02 104.67
2004 139.73 104.23
2005 141.84 103.81
2006 142.57 103.82
2007 143.60 104.67
2008 141.78 104.71
2009 146.96 108.75
2010 151.06 109.63
2011 149.60 108.31
2012 149.95 107.26
2013 151.17 108.32
2014 152.13 108.60
2015 154.89 110.32
2016 155.11 111.25
2017 156.25 111.41
2018 157.95 112.15
2019 159.73 113.71
2020 161.82% 117.53%

Notes: Data are for compensation (wages and benefits) of production/nonsupervisory workers in the private sector and net productivity of the total economy. “Net productivity” is the growth of output of goods and services less depreciation per hour worked.

Source: Adapted from "The Productivity–Pay Gap" (EPI 2021), which is based on EPI analysis of unpublished Total Economy Productivity data from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Labor Productivity and Costs program, wage data from the BLS Current Employment Statistics, BLS Employment Cost Trends, BLS Consumer Price Index, and Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts.

View the underlying data on epi.org.