Since 1979, productivity has risen eight times faster than pay: Disconnect between productivity and typical worker's 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 | 81.9% | 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 | 100.2% | 214.5% |
| 2006 | 100.3% | 216.5% |
| 2007 | 101.8% | 218.8% |
| 2008 | 101.9% | 219.4% |
| 2009 | 109.9% | 226.0% |
| 2010 | 111.8% | 235.4% |
| 2011 | 109.3% | 236.7% |
| 2012 | 107.5% | 240.9% |
| 2013 | 108.9% | 243.1% |
Note: From 1948 to 1979, net productivity rose 108.1 percent, and hourly compensation (of production/nonsupervisory workers in the private sector) increased 93.4 percent. From 1979 to 2013, productivity rose 64.9 percent, and hourly compensation rose 8.0 percent.
Note: From 1948 to 1979, net productivity rose 108.1 percent, and hourly compensation (of production/nonsupervisory workers in the private sector) increased 93.4 percent. From 1979 to 2013, productivity rose 64.9 percent, and hourly compensation rose 8.0 percent.
Data are for compensation of production/nonsupervisory workers in the private sector (who make up over 80 percent of the private-sector workforce) and net productivity (growth of output of goods and services less depreciation per hour worked) of the total economy.
Source: EPI analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis
Updated from Figure A in Raising America’s Pay: Why It’s Our Central Economic Policy Challenge
Source: Hourly compensation is derived from inflating the average wages of production/nonsupervisory workers from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Statistics (specifically the Employment, Hours and Earnings—National database, 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 2.3.4, 6.2, 6.3, 6.9, 6.10, and 6.11. 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 BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) database. Wage data are adjusted for inflation using the BLS Consumer Price Indexes program's All Urban Consumers: Consumer Price Index (CPI) database. Productivity data are unpublished data from the BLS Labor Productivity and Costs program's Major Sector Productivity and Costs and Industry Productivity and Costs databases.
Updated from Figure A in Raising America’s Pay: Why It’s Our Central Economic Policy Challenge, by Josh Bivens, Elise Gould, Lawrence Mishel, and Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute, 2014.