But in the employment case, the proposed 'improved' metric tracks very closely, with some divergence around the recession. Obviously, if that divergence continu

But in the employment case, the proposed 'improved' metric tracks very closely, with some divergence around the recession. Obviously, if that divergence continued indefinitely so that the metrics didn't track together anymore, your argument would hold. As a side note, the increase in income inequality is not "much smaller" when benefits are included. See for example https://ourworldindata.org/incomes-across-the-distribution/ https://ourworldindata.org/incomes-across-the-distribution/. The gap is almost entirely due to soaring executive compensation, and since there is no correlation between performance and executive compensation (some studies even show an inverse correlation: https://cooleypubco.com/2016/07/25/new-study-shows-inverse-correlation-between-ceo-pay-and-performance-over-the-long-term/ https://cooleypubco.com/2016/07/25/new-study-shows-inverse-c...), any natural brake on the spiraling salaries seems to have failed.