--- title: The Economy Is Doing Great — for Everybody but Workers description: The economy is growing, but workers are getting a record-low share of income. Here's why many Americans still feel behind. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 499 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-07-08T15:01:26.000Z' modified: '2026-07-08T15:01:26.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 489 canonical: https://money.com/workers-losing-economic-gains/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Collage of a man carrying a coin towards uphill](https://img.money.com/2026/07/News-economy-good-workers.jpg) The U.S. economy has been growing faster than expected in recent months. Unemployment remains [historically low](https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-unemployment-rate.htm). And the stock market has hit [several all-time highs](https://money.com/investors-fear-stock-market/) lately, boosting 401(k) and investment account balances. By several major metrics, the economy is doing quite well. But many Americans don’t feel like they’re winning. What gives? The latest consumer sentiment readings from the [University of Michigan](https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/) and [The Conference Board](https://www.conference-board.org/topics/consumer-confidence/) show an improvement in June as gas and oil prices retreated from the spike following the start of the Iran war. Even so, Americans remain [notably pessimistic](https://money.com/is-2026-like-2008-financial-crisis/). This disconnect between what everyday Americans are feeling and what economic data shows has been referred to as a “[vibecession](https://money.com/recession-prep-tiktok-trend/).” However, a [recent report](https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/06/the-post-covid-decline-in-the-labor-share/#bibtex) from the New York Federal Reserve Bank suggests that it’s not just the vibes that are off. U.S. workers are not benefiting from U.S. economic growth as they once did. In fact, they’re losing considerable ground. In the NY Fed report, the researchers highlighted that the so-called “labor share” has hit an all-time low. This measure represents the share of all income that goes to workers through wages and salaries. For the first three months of 2026, the share fell to 53.7% — the lowest on record dating back to 1947. ## Workers get a smaller piece of the pie Following World War II, U.S. workers received more than 65% of the national income pie. Their share stayed above 60% into the early 2000s before falling steadily from the dot-com bust and again from the Great Recession in 2008. The COVID-19 pandemic deepened the decline, and the NY Fed report concluded that the trend isn’t a blip that appears likely to reverse. Rather, it’s an acceleration of a persistent phenomenon that’s been plaguing workers for decades. "It looks like across all industries the labor share is coming down," Richard Audoly, one of the authors of the NY Fed report, [told S&P Global](https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/articles/2026/6/labor-share-of-economic-growth-hits-new-low-ai-adoption-could-further-the-trend-103271014). And if the share for workers is shrinking, that means it’s growing for others. In this case, experts say, corporations and investors are seeing major gains in the form of higher profits and larger dividends. According to separate data from the U.S. Commerce Department, the share of income resulting in corporate profits hit 12.2% — the highest since at least 1929, when the government first began collecting those figures. There are several reasons why the slice of the income pie has been shrinking for workers, explained labor economist Raymond Robertson to [*Fortune*](https://fortune.com/2026/01/13/us-workers-smallest-labor-share-gdp-on-record/) earlier this year. They all boil down to fewer workers or suppressed wages. For instance, some firms are investing in artificial intelligence over people. [Megacorporations](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/135/2/645/5721266?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false) are padding CEO pay and [raising prices](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/135/2/561/5714769?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false). Meanwhile, the overall labor force (and population) is shrinking due to [fewer immigrants entering the country](https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61390). “Data right now is very mixed,” Robertson said. “But I think it also all consistently points to this idea that things are getting worse for workers and much better for billionaires.” ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/workers-losing-economic-gains/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Economy", "item": "https://money.com/economy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Economy Is Doing Great — for Everybody but Workers" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/workers-losing-economic-gains/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/workers-losing-economic-gains/", "name": "The Economy Is Doing Great — for Everybody but Workers", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2026-07-08T15:01:26.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/workers-losing-economic-gains/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/workers-losing-economic-gains/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2026-07-08T15:01:26.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "The Economy Is Doing Great — for Everybody but Workers", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2026/07/News-economy-good-workers.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-economy-good-workers" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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