Unpacking the U.S. Labor Share (Thomas Weisskopf Festschrift Conference Paper)

James Heintz addresses the question of why the labor share of U.S. national income appears to remain remarkably constant over long periods of time, despite significant shifts in economic performance, policies, the distribution of power and institutions. As Heintz notes, the constancy of the labor share seems to contradict other trends, such as falling real wages since the early 1970s for average non-supervisory workers.