Here's a fairly recent NYT article that discusses this, although most of it is within the context of the then "current happenings" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/

Here's a fairly recent NYT article that discusses this, although most of it is within the context of the then "current happenings" http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/business/28wages.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/business/28wages.html For most of the last century, wages and productivity — the key measure of the economy’s efficiency — have risen together, increasing rapidly through the 1950’s and 60’s and far more slowly in the 1970’s and 80’s. So in this regard, Turing_Machine is indeed correct that wages have historically followed increases in productivity. My remarks were imprecise, the word rarely should have had an asterisk to a footnote that states that rarely means within the last decade or so. But in recent years, the productivity gains have continued while the pay increases have not kept up. Worker productivity rose 16.6 percent from 2000 to 2005, while total compensation for the median worker rose 7.2 percent, according to Labor Department statistics analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group. Benefits accounted for most of the increase. The BBC had an excellent graph that displays the trend over time. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5303590.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5303590.stm The authors of the EPI report argue that low minimum wages, weakened union power, and the loss of both blue and white-collar jobs to off shoring do much to explain the jobs picture. Which leads us back to why Texas is popular right now. Most of the news articles are from the viewpoint of workers, discussing it in a negative connotation. I'm sure you can find other publications from the other viewpoint, that labor is getting cheaper and profits are going through the roof. Surely someone in the WSJ or The Economist has noticed.