This graph is a bit of a misnomer.
Why did union membership drop? Did people decide it wasn’t worth it, or were unionized jobs the first to be automated and shipped overseas?
The US owner class and the conservative/centrist governments have always hated unions. The Pinkertons aren’t storybook stuff, they’re real thugs who did real violence(and who still exist today). Strike-breaking, incredibly weak laws around protecting people who try to unionize, and aggressive “individualism”(it only serves to isolate people because we’re weaker apart) are all great ways to slowly discourage people from standing up for themselves.
In some ways, people did decide that it wasn’t worth it, but that wasn’t really tied to the union being bad, more out of the fear of being punished. Jobs were shipped overseas, and poor people who can’t afford US-made goods only hastened the downfall of the US manufacturing as they chose cheap products from department stores and allowed all their local equipment and knowledge to rot away.
The graph is pretty on point. Our productivity, all over the world, has been sky-rocketing and pay has barely moved. Even today, unions are still important for keeping various industries held to SOME kind of standard, but they’re rare enough that it’s still not lifting the entire economy.
That’s my point a little bit. Unions were not keeping wages consistent with productivity, their leverage was. Then they lost that leverage. A lot of people want to bring back unions with no changes, and capitalists have learned it’s better to just close the Starbucks.
This is something that will only be changed through legislation, and since no political party sides with the worker, that’s a slim hope. Government is literally the biggest collective bargaining tool we have. It’s a union, but we’re losing that as well to corporate interests.
I think it’s telling where unions have had staying power, and where they haven’t.
The big event was Reagan busting the air traffic control union. Union really busting took off afterwards since it was demonstrated the government would roll them for private sector interests. Unions that existed just became gutted of power and influence as a result and people stopped joining.
Productivity was zero during the post wwii recovery boon? Dubious.
It says percent change, it’s not an absolut value.
This guy isn’t making his 250 productions today.
“Use ai and you’ll be twice as productive!”
“So I’ll be paid twice as much?”
“Lol no of course not”
“Oh. I’ll work half the hours then?”
“No. 8 hours, same as before.”
At work, in the software industry, management are seeing sustained ~3x throughput so they sacked 50% of staff
I’m glad I already switched to FOSS before the Great Tech Debt Collapse.
What are the units for productivity? 🤔
Typically connected to production & revenue, divided by worked hours
From the link in the image:
Notes: […] “Net productivity” is the growth of output of goods and services less depreciation per hour worked.
[…]
What is productivity, and why did pay and productivity once climb together?: Productivity measures how much income is generated (for workers, business owners, landlords, and everyone else together) in an average hour of work in the economy. […]
Thanks. So… dollars I guess?
I would say % change since 1948 of $/hour since 1948, for both, productivity and compensation.
“Percent change” according to the axis label. “Hourly compensation” is also in units of “percent change” which also kind of reeks.
Percentage is a ratio, i.e. X units per 100 units. I’m asking what those units are in the first place.
Probably money, and probably turnover.
Wtf is productivity
In a factory setting, it’s the amount of product produced. In an office job, it’s a partially made-up metric based on whatever is important to the business.
