The population has more than doubled since while overall efficiency has increased. This has nothing to do with unions or otherwise. It´s just a matter of the pi

The population has more than doubled since while overall efficiency has increased. This has nothing to do with unions or otherwise. It´s just a matter of the pie not growing as fast as the population is in some sense. Also, society looked very different back then. Women´s work force participation alone renders any comparison between the two ages rather difficult to make to begin with so assuming right off the bat that the 1950s were better (while disregarding all the advancements in medicine, etc.) is unfair at best. note: I understand that you said "possibly" but this is a claim that I hear rather often and I don´t know how people can actually make that comparison so easily.