Between 1948 and 1973, American worker productivity went up nearly 100%, and wages went up nearly 100% too.
Everything changed in the 1970s, though. From 1973 to 2013, productivity went up 75% – but wages only went up less than 10%! Workers were more and more productive, but getting paid less and less.
The average worker made about $42,000 a year in 1975. 40 years later, the average worker makes about $50,000 a year! That’s while everything – especially housing, rent, and groceries – has gotten much more expensive.
If the average worker’s salary had the same buying power today as back then, they would make $92,000 per year! How did this happen?
In the same time period, salaries of the highest-paid workers have gone WAY up. CEOs today make nearly 1000% more than they did in the 1970s!
It’s not necessarily that they don’t deserve their salaries – but that the gap between the rich and poor has never been larger.
This inequality has many layers. The income gap between Black and non-Black workers and between lower-educated and higher-educated workers, for example, also grew substantially over the last 40 years.
So what does this all mean?
Our increasingly unjust economic system means literally trillions of dollars have been stolen from American workers over the last 40 years, with the biggest impact hitting Black and less-educated workers. The average worker earns $40,000 less than they should.
What would you do with an extra $40,000 per year?