On: Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling...

[simonsarris]

You're generally right. Total comp has increased, not stagnated, but only because employers have shifted compensation from wages to benefits (like healthcare). Companies don't pay payroll taxes on those, so I assume they like this arrangement, even though it causes all sorts of problems when you couple job + healthcare.

Healthcare is the new company car.

Total compensation (including non-wage benefits): http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/RCPHBS

Cost index (attempts to control for composition changes): http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/ECICOM

[_dczq → simonsarris]

Meanwhile, corporate profits as % of GDP are historically high: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=fPLQ

[tryptophan → _dczq]

This can explained by the fact that US companies are doing an increasing share of their business in non-US countries.

[_dczq → tryptophan]

Is the inverse of this not true? Are non-US companies doing more of their business in the US?