Before the 1970s, when overall productivity went up, the individual contributors has a much bigger contribution to the productivity improvements. Even with the

Before the 1970s, when overall productivity went up, the individual contributors has a much bigger contribution to the productivity improvements. Even with the improved tooling, you still needed people with the skills to take advantage of the improved tooling, so workers back then still had the ability to claim a portion of the increased productivity. As the tooling and automation got better, the skills contributed by the worker have been responsible for less and less of the productivity gains to the point where the worker is contributing almost none of the productivity gains. From the perspective of improving the lot of ordinary workers, "beyond the firm whose productivity improved" does matter. You can still make it to the middle class life today, but you do so by taking those jobs that help improve productivity like being a software engineer. I'm middle class myself. I got there by contributing to productivity gains. Make no mistake, even prior to the 1970s, there were plenty of jobs that would not have gotten someone into the middle class life. Those jobs that didn't get you a middle life back then have a lot in common with those that won't get you a middle class life today in terms of the amount of skills and effort required.