omgwtfbyobbq · 123 points · 46 comments · 8 ore fa · Open original
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ZEzetazzed7 ore fa
One major element in this is the rise of earnings from pass-through income. Self-employed or nearly self-employed individuals who would have been counted as employees of their small businesses 30+ years ago increasingly take "profits" from their business rather than "wages," even though they are the same thing. The "profits" get tax advantages. This makes labor share decline despite dentists, consultants, etc. still doing the same amount of work and taking home the same pretax income. See: https://www.ericzwick.com/labshare/labshare.pdf
BLBLKNSLVR8 ore fa
This is purely data with no narrative attached, which is sort of refreshing.
The un-answered question is what is now eating up the percentage that was going to wages?
What are the options? R&D, shareholders, lawyers, advertising/marketing/PR, share buy-backs, political lobbying (cough bribery cough), strategic reserves?
ENentrope1 ora fa
The fraction is markedly different when one includes compensation in the forms of retirement contributions, insurance and the employer part of payroll taxes: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A4002E1A156NBEA
REresters6 ore fa
<scarcasm>Wait till millions of robotaxis hit the streets, the graph will crater!</sarcasm>
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5 preview comments · loading full threadLog in to h4cker, then connect Hacker News to publish comments.
One major element in this is the rise of earnings from pass-through income. Self-employed or nearly self-employed individuals who would have been counted as employees of their small businesses 30+ years ago increasingly take "profits" from their business rather than "wages," even though they are the same thing. The "profits" get tax advantages. This makes labor share decline despite dentists, consultants, etc. still doing the same amount of work and taking home the same pretax income. See: https://www.ericzwick.com/labshare/labshare.pdf
This is purely data with no narrative attached, which is sort of refreshing. The un-answered question is what is now eating up the percentage that was going to wages? What are the options? R&D, shareholders, lawyers, advertising/marketing/PR, share buy-backs, political lobbying (cough bribery cough), strategic reserves?
The fraction is markedly different when one includes compensation in the forms of retirement contributions, insurance and the employer part of payroll taxes: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A4002E1A156NBEA
<scarcasm>Wait till millions of robotaxis hit the streets, the graph will crater!</sarcasm>
Does this include income like RSUs?