Worker Productivity Keeps Rising. Pay, Not So Much.

American workers’ economic productivity continues to grow much faster than their pay, according to a new study published Wednesday. This divergence, the study asserts, is a key contributor to the widening income gap that both political parties have focused on during the runup to the presidential election. 

The study, conducted by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), finds that from 2000 to 2014, American workers’ total productivity increased 21.6 percent, while the median worker’s compensation, including pay and benefits, rose just 1.8 percent.