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Economist Highlights Wage Disparity and Productivity Gap

4/6/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Arindrajit Dube, economist at the University of Massachusetts, recalls his early work at McDonald's in Seattle.
He witnessed wage disparities between full-time and outsourced workers and joined the Harvard Living Wage Campaign.
In The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It, Dube argues wage growth has lagged productivity since the 1980s, with productivity up 73% and median wages up 23% from 1980 to 2019.

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Story summary

Arindrajit Dube, economist at the University of Massachusetts, recalls his early work at McDonald's in Seattle.
He witnessed wage disparities between full-time and outsourced workers and joined the Harvard Living Wage Campaign.
In The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It, Dube argues wage growth has lagged productivity since the 1980s, with productivity up 73% and median wages up 23% from 1980 to 2019.