Report
Fact-based, data-driven research and analysis to advance democratic debate on vital issues shaping people’s lives.
Center for Economic and Policy Research
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-293-5380
Fax: 202-588-1356
https://cepr.net
April 2007, Dean Baker
This report makes a series of adjustments to the most common measure of U.S. productivity growth (i.e., non-farm business sector) as well as to measures of wage growth, to determine the extent to which lagging wages can be blamed on weak productivity growth vs. income redistribution. Weak wage growth between 1973 and 2006 has generally been attributed to a redistribution of income from typical workers to higher paid workers. However, the report shows that, along with a redistribution of income, lagging wage growth has also been caused by slow productivity growth.