Unfortunately, income growth has stalled to rates rarely seen in Canadian history. Only twice in the past century have we lived through more sluggish growth than today—both during serious recessions.
You mentioned that a recent period it appears that productivity has grown as much as wages. I wasn’t sure if you’re restating the common mainstream economic refrain that productivity growth drives wage growth so I threw the data that disputes this narrative.
I absolutely agree that wages haven’t kept up, and the data shows that. And the rest of your point about the psychology of stagnant pay for more work.
I keep hearing from mainstream economists (recently from the BoC) that we need to increase productivity in order to increase wages. But that hasn’t worked for three decades! 😂 It’s almost like there’s been another driver that kept this correlation tighly coupled in the past. Perhaps the stronger leverage to demand raises that stronger unions used to provide prior to the union busting era might have had something to do with it. 🥹
Ahh I see the confusion, my original comment was more a remark on the fact that they are complaining about “stagnant” productivity, when wages are in a really poor place and probably contributing to the overall poor productivity. Because who wants to do more for less pay? I was not intending it to be a commentary agreeing that productivity increases wages, but rather it should be the other way around. If you want productive workers, then pay them to be productive!
You mentioned that a recent period it appears that productivity has grown as much as wages. I wasn’t sure if you’re restating the common mainstream economic refrain that productivity growth drives wage growth so I threw the data that disputes this narrative.
I absolutely agree that wages haven’t kept up, and the data shows that. And the rest of your point about the psychology of stagnant pay for more work.
I keep hearing from mainstream economists (recently from the BoC) that we need to increase productivity in order to increase wages. But that hasn’t worked for three decades! 😂 It’s almost like there’s been another driver that kept this correlation tighly coupled in the past. Perhaps the stronger leverage to demand raises that stronger unions used to provide prior to the union busting era might have had something to do with it. 🥹
Ahh I see the confusion, my original comment was more a remark on the fact that they are complaining about “stagnant” productivity, when wages are in a really poor place and probably contributing to the overall poor productivity. Because who wants to do more for less pay? I was not intending it to be a commentary agreeing that productivity increases wages, but rather it should be the other way around. If you want productive workers, then pay them to be productive!
Makes sense!