Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity For most of the last century, wages and productivity—the key measure of the economy’s efficiency—have risen together, increasing rapidly through the...

Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity

For most of the last century, wages and productivity—the key measure of the economy’s efficiency—have risen together, increasing rapidly

through the 1950s and ’60s and far more slowly

in the 1970s and ’80s. But in recent years, the

productivity gains have continued while the pay

increases have not kept up.