Productivity Went Up. Your Paycheck Didn't

Welcome to the True Money Historian channel. Workers produce more per hour than they did in the 1970s, and companies are posting record profits. So why do so many people with full-time jobs still run out of money before the month ends? In this video I follow the money. I start with Henry Ford's five-dollar day in 1914, look at the decades when pay rose together with productivity, and then at what changed around 1979. After that I trace where the extra money went: profits, stock buybacks, executive pay, house and stock prices, and debt. At the end I talk about what AI could mean for the next round. KEY FACTS Ford's $5 day (January 1914): $5 for an eight-hour shift, up from about $2.34 for nine hours 1948 to 1979: productivity grew about 112% and typical worker pay about 90% 1979 to 2019: productivity grew about 60% and typical pay less than 16% CEO pay vs. a typical worker: about 21 to 1 in 1965, 281 to 1 in 2024 Since 1978, CEO pay is up about 1,094% while typical worker pay is up about 26% Main reasons discussed: weaker bargaining power, shareholder-first thinking, buybacks, rising asset prices and household debt Source for the figures: Economic Policy Institute. Numbers vary depending on how pay is measured. #TrueMoneyHistorian #WageStagnation #Economics #FinancialHistory #IncomeInequality If this video gave you a new way to look at your paycheck, subscribe and support the channel. A like and a comment help it grow more than you'd think. Thanks for watching. 0:00 Where Did the Extra Money Go? 0:34 Henry Ford's $5 Day and the Golden Era 2:37 Why Wages Fell Behind 4:28 Where the Money Went: Profits and CEO Pay 6:14 Houses, Stocks and Debt 9:00 AI and the Final Answer