Workers Get Nothing When They Produce More? Wrong

Earlier this year, Bloomberg View ran a series of articles about productivity growth. Productivity -- a measure of the economy’s efficiency -- has been slowing down lately, and there are many different ideas on how to jump-start it. My own suggestions largely revolved around improving on the bright spots of recent years -- skilled immigration and knowledge industry clusters, along with a judicious mix of infrastructure investment, higher urban density and targeted deregulation.

But these suggestions often receive a huge amount of pushback from those who believe that productivity increases don’t benefit the average worker. This argument is powerful because it’s supported by a very clear, simple chart -- a comparison of labor productivity gains versus compensation: