Source: Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, Vol. 24 no. 5, September/October 2013
From 1954 thought 1974, American workers brought home most of the wealth that they produced. Since 1974, they’ve steadily lost power—and they’re getting just a fraction of the wealth they produce today….What no one grasped at the time was that this wasn’t a one-year anomaly, that 1974 would mark a fundamental breakpoint in American economic history. In the years since, the tide has continued to rise, but a growing number of boats have been chained to the bottom. Productivity has increased by 80 percent, but median compensation (that’s wages plus benefits) has risen by just 11 percent during that time. The middle-income jobs of the nation’s postwar boom years have disproportionately vanished. Low-wage jobs have disproportionately burgeoned. Employment has become less secure. Benefits have been cut. The dictionary definition of “layoff” has changed, from denoting a temporary severance from one’s job to denoting a permanent severance….