Labor’s share of US economic output falls to record 52.8% — Fortune
In the United States, the share of economic output that workers receive in the form of wages fell to 52.8% in the second quarter of 2026. This is the lowest figure since the US Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping such records in 1947, Fortune reports.
In the first quarter, the figure stood at 53.6%, while the average throughout the current decade was about 55.6%. Labor’s share reflects the portion of the country’s total economic output that workers receive through compensation.
Corporate profits and the labor market
The decline in workers’ share comes amid rising corporate profits. Fortune 500 companies posted record combined profits of $2.1 trillion in 2025. At the same time, US GDP grew by 3.4% in the third quarter of 2025, exceeding economists’ expectations.
Raymond Robertson, an economist at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, attributes the shrinking labor share to a shift in income toward capital. He also points to automation, which, in his assessment, is displacing some workers while labor productivity continues to rise. Nonfarm productivity increased by 1.4% in the second quarter, compared with 2.2% a year earlier.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Unemployment, automation and immigration
The US unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in September. Employers created 584,000 jobs in 2025, compared with 2 million in 2024. In September, the number of jobs increased by 29,000, about one-third of the level forecast by economists.
Goldman Sachs analysts Joseph Briggs and Sarah Dong suggested that automation using artificial intelligence could potentially affect 25% of all work hours. In their assessment, a 15% productivity gain from AI during its adoption period could displace 6–7% of jobs. At the same time, the analysts noted that technological changes would also create new jobs.
Mark Regets, a senior fellow at the National Foundation for American Policy, separately linked the slowdown in labor force growth to the tougher immigration policy of President Donald Trump’s administration. According to the organization, the number of workers born outside the United States has declined by 1.1–1.4 million since January 2025.
