Disconnect between productivity and typical worker compensation,* 1948–2013

Year Hourly compensation Productivity
1948 0.0% 0.0%
1949 6.3% 1.5%
1950 10.5% 9.3%
1951 11.8% 12.4%
1952 15.0% 15.6%
1953 20.8% 19.5%
1954 23.5% 21.6%
1955 28.7% 26.5%
1956 33.9% 26.7%
1957 37.1% 30.1%
1958 38.2% 32.8%
1959 42.6% 37.6%
1960 45.5% 40.0%
1961 48.0% 44.4%
1962 52.5% 49.8%
1963 55.0% 55.0%
1964 58.5% 60.0%
1965 62.5% 64.9%
1966 64.9% 70.0%
1967 66.9% 72.1%
1968 70.7% 77.2%
1969 74.7% 77.9%
1970 76.6% 80.4%
1971 82.0% 87.1%
1972 91.3% 92.0%
1973 91.3% 96.7%
1974 87.0% 93.6%
1975 86.9% 97.9%
1976 89.7% 103.4%
1977 93.2% 105.8%
1978 96.0% 107.8%
1979 93.4% 108.1%
1980 88.6% 106.5%
1981 87.6% 111.0%
1982 87.8% 107.9%
1983 88.3% 114.1%
1984 87.0% 119.7%
1985 86.4% 123.4%
1986 87.3% 128.0%
1987 84.6% 129.1%
1988 83.9% 131.8%
1989 83.7% 133.7%
1990 82.2% 137.0%
1991 82.1% 138.9%
1992 83.1% 147.6%
1993 83.4% 148.4%
1994 83.8% 150.8%
1995 82.7% 150.9%
1996 82.8% 157.0%
1997 84.8% 160.6%
1998 89.2% 165.9%
1999 92.0% 172.8%
2000 93.0% 179.2%
2001 95.7% 183.5%
2002 99.6% 191.4%
2003 101.8% 200.9%
2004 101.1% 209.1%
2005 100.3% 214.5%
2006 100.4% 216.5%
2007 101.9% 218.8%
2008 102.1% 219.4%
2009 110.1% 226.0%
2010 112.1% 235.4%
2011 109.6% 236.7%
2012 107.7% 240.9%
2013 109.2% 243.1%

Note: From 1948 to 1979, productivity rose 108.1 percent, and hourly compensation increased 93.4 percent. From 1979 to 2013, productivity rose 64.9 percent, and hourly compensation rose 8.2 percent.

* Data are for compensation of production/nonsupervisory workers in the private sector and net productivity (growth of output of goods and services less depreciation per hour worked) of the total economy. Hourly compensation is derived from inflating the average wages of production/nonsupervisory workers from the BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) by a compensation-to-wage ratio. The compensation-to-wage ratio is calculated by dividing the average total compensation (wages and salaries plus benefits) by the average wage and salary accruals of all full- and part-time employees from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) interactive tables. The 2013 compensation-to-wage ratio used in the calculation of hourly compensation was estimated using the growth rate of the compensation-to-wage ratio from 2012 to 2013 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC).

Source: Authors' analysis of data from BLS Labor Productivity and Costs program, Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics public data series and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, and Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts (Tables 2.3.4, 6.2, 6.3, 6.9, 6.10, and 6.11)

UPDATED FROM: Figure 4U in The State of Working America, 12th Edition, an Economic Policy Institute book published by Cornell University Press in 2012

View the underlying data on epi.org.