Increases in labor productivity is a curious thing to think about. Do I deserve more wages for using AutoCad instead of drafting paper?

- The amount I'm working hasn't increased. Still an 8 hour day.

- My job honestly is easier than it used to be; certainly less menial.

- Strictly speaking, the education requirement is actually lower. It's easier and a lower bar to learn to become a decent designer in AutoCad than to learn to effectively use old drafting tools (even though the formal four year engineering degree still takes four years).

But it's also true that in spite of this, my output is higher. Should I capture the increased output or should the innovators of the tools? What about the firms that invest in procuring these tools and production technology? Should the customers capture the increased output through lower prices? Or should the innovators, firms, and customers all get less, and instead my wages should get bigger?

Fair, but the year over year growth of labor productivity has been really consistent, as has consumer prices:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=tjto

So in terms of how much consumers are making in relation to their expenses, it's been remarkably steady this whole time.

Chart goes up, but you really need to look at percent change. Over the last 25 years it's averaged about 2%

observation_date OPHNFB_PC1

2000-01-01 2.99256

2001-01-01 2.58092

2002-01-01 4.27146

2003-01-01 3.68422

2004-01-01 2.97991

2005-01-01 2.18582

2006-01-01 0.99665

2007-01-01 1.58927

2008-01-01 1.30737

2009-01-01 4.07061

2010-01-01 3.15513

2011-01-01 -0.02491

2012-01-01 0.93870

2013-01-01 0.59941

2014-01-01 1.00795

2015-01-01 1.27023

2016-01-01 0.61567

2017-01-01 1.49513

2018-01-01 1.40965

2019-01-01 2.13337

2020-01-01 5.30657

2021-01-01 2.06281

2022-01-01 -1.46786

2023-01-01 2.13277

2024-01-01 2.91010

2025-01-01 2.25154

Is this inflation adjusted?

The chart you're showing, absolutely reflects the reality of some of the most productive segments of our economy.

Ford now makes more cars, with fewer people. Sears used to have people who took photos, laid out catalogs, opened envelopes (with checks in them).... Amazon has none of that. We replaced switch board operators, with mechanical, then digital switching. More calls routed, fewer people required. go back 45 years and "draftsmen" was a job - replaced by auto cad.

All these industries have seen massive productivity.

Are the people flipping burgers more productive? Plumbers? Welders? Teachers? Nurses? -- to some extent yes, because of technology but not to the same extent as the previous businesses. Anything that qualifies as "service economy" work has not seen the same gains as Ford (see: https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/phenomenal-gains-in-manufactu... )