> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.workersrights.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Workers' share of U.S. output hit 52.8%, the lowest since 1947. Owners took the rest. - URL: https://www.workersrights.news/workers-share-of-economy-record-low-52-8-percent/ - Published: 2026-10-27T17:08:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-27T17:08:41.000Z - Description: BLS data show labor's share fell 1.9 points in a year as AI spending and buybacks grew. Getting back to 56% would mean about $3,900 per household. - Author: WorkersRights.News Team - Tags: Economy American workers are taking home a smaller share of what the economy produces than at any point since the government started keeping track. The labor share in the nonfarm business sector fell to 52.8% in the second quarter of 2026, the lowest level since the data begin in 1947, the [Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Sept. 15](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/labor-share-at-its-lowest-level-52-8-percent-in-second-quarter-2026.htm?ref=workersrights.news). The labor share is the portion of business output paid to workers as compensation: wages and salaries plus benefits, pensions and employer payroll taxes. Whatever is left goes to owners, as profits, interest and other returns on capital. For most of the postwar era, workers got 60% to 66%. The share slid after 2000, dropped further after the 2001 and 2007-2009 recessions, and has now fallen 1.9 points in a single year, from 54.7% in the second quarter of 2025. | Period | Labor share, nonfarm business | | ------- | ----------------------------- | | Q1 1947 | 65.5% | | Q1 2000 | 63.8% | | Q2 2020 | 58.9% | | Q2 2025 | 54.7% | | Q1 2026 | 53.6% | | Q2 2026 | 52.8% | Source: BLS, Sept. 15, 2026 ### Who gets the rest of the pie Economists interviewed by [CNN's Alicia Wallace](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/27/economy/us-workers-smaller-share-of-profits?ref=workersrights.news) tied this year's faster decline to the heavy investment in, and rapid adoption of, artificial intelligence. "It's really telling you that workers have less and less power in this technology age and certainly in the AI age," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told CNN. "The rewards, the financial gains, are mainly going to shareholders," she said. Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan, told CNN the BLS measure could drop below 50% by the end of the decade if current trends and AI's expected effects hold. Corporate decisions this fall show where the money is going. GM plans to spend [$20 billion buying back its own stock](https://www.workersrights.news/gm-20-billion-stock-buyback-uaw-fain-2028/). [American Express](https://www.workersrights.news/american-express-cuts-5-percent-workforce-ai/) and [Barclays](https://www.workersrights.news/barclays-5000-job-cuts-ai/) announced job cuts while profits rose, with both pointing to AI. [Microsoft](https://www.workersrights.news/microsoft-buyouts-60000-workers-voluntary-exit-offer-ai/) is offering voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, according to news reports, while it pours money into AI. ### How much is measurement, and how much is power Not all of the decline is real money lost, according to a Goldman Sachs research note cited by CNN. Goldman economist Abhay Duggirala estimated that about 40% of the drop since the 1990s comes from tax changes that pushed more businesses into pass-through structures (so some owners' pay is booked as profit), faster depreciation of computers and software, and equity pay the BLS measure undercounts. He attributed the other 60% to higher markups, more industry concentration, automation and a decline in workers' bargaining power. The Tax Foundation goes further. Its senior economist, Richard DiSalvo, told CNN that gross measures overstate how much goes to owners because much of that income pays for depreciation and taxes and never reaches anyone. Excluding those, the group found capital's share of net income runs between 22.6% and 31.7%, and the labor share stays within historical levels. DiSalvo acknowledged the share has fallen over the past 20 years but said the drop is smaller than the BLS data suggest. Even on that reading, Goldman's estimate leaves most of the decline tied to employers' pricing power and workers' weaker leverage. ### What it means for your paycheck Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, estimated for CNN that returning the labor share to 56% would mean about $3,900 more per household, and a return to the early-2000s level near 62% would mean about $14,400\. "It's a slow-moving phenomenon but one that has real consequences in terms of consumer spending and consumer sentiment," he said. The squeeze shows up month to month too. Prices rose 3.7% in the year through September, while average hourly pay rose 3.0%, [a 0.7% cut in real earnings](https://www.workersrights.news/inflation-september-2026-paychecks-diesel/). Bargaining power is the piece workers can change. Union membership was 10.0% of wage and salary workers in 2025, half the 20.1% rate of 1983, and just 5.9% in the private sector, [according to the BLS](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm?ref=workersrights.news). Full-time union members earned a median $1,404 a week, compared with $1,174 for nonunion workers. Know what your job pays elsewhere, talk with coworkers about pay (federal labor law protects most private-sector workers who do), and ask about organizing. Election Day is Nov. 3, and the people who write labor and tax law are on the ballot. ### Sources - [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Economics Daily: Labor share at its lowest level, 52.8 percent, in second quarter 2026 (Sept. 15, 2026)](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/labor-share-at-its-lowest-level-52-8-percent-in-second-quarter-2026.htm?ref=workersrights.news) - [CNN: Workers are getting a shrinking slice of America's economic pie (Oct. 27, 2026)](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/27/economy/us-workers-smaller-share-of-profits?ref=workersrights.news) - [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Union Members, 2025 (Feb. 18, 2026)](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm?ref=workersrights.news) - [WorkersRights.News: Prices Outpace Wage Growth As Inflation Shoots to 3.7%](https://www.workersrights.news/inflation-september-2026-paychecks-diesel/) - [WorkersRights.News: GM's $20 billion stock buyback](https://www.workersrights.news/gm-20-billion-stock-buyback-uaw-fain-2028/) - [WorkersRights.News: American Express cuts 5% of its workforce](https://www.workersrights.news/american-express-cuts-5-percent-workforce-ai/) - [WorkersRights.News: Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs](https://www.workersrights.news/barclays-5000-job-cuts-ai/) - [WorkersRights.News: Microsoft buyouts for up to 60,000 workers](https://www.workersrights.news/microsoft-buyouts-60000-workers-voluntary-exit-offer-ai/)