Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind US Productivity Gains

Re:Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind... by simonsarris on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @04:11PM (#16433004)

You're generally right. Total comp has increased, not stagnated, but only because employers have shifted compensation from wages to benefits (like healthcare). Companies don't pay payroll taxes on those, so I assume they like this arrangement, even though it causes all sorts of problems when you couple job + healthcare.

Healthcare is the new company car.

Total compensation (including non-wage benefits): http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/RCPHBS

Cost index (attempts to control for composition changes): http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/ECICOM

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Re:Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind... by moorhosj on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @04:19PM (#16433066)

Meanwhile, corporate profits as % of GDP are historically high: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=fPLQ

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Re:Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind... by tryptophan on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @05:18PM (#16433485)

This can explained by the fact that US companies are doing an increasing share of their business in non-US countries.

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Re:Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind... by moorhosj on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @05:40PM (#16433638)

Is the inverse of this not true? Are non-US companies doing more of their business in the US?

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