File:Screen shot 2013-04-11 at 9.58.53 am.png

• What: total wages as a portion of GDP
• Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/profits-at-high-wages-at-low-2013-4

Notes

• The descent isn't quite as precipitous as this chart makes it look -- the scale only shows 0.43 to 0.54. These few percentage points, however, are sufficient to drive some very large changes.
• It seems likely that the peaks near each recession are due not to rising wages but falling GDP. It might be interesting to see this graph redone using a ten-year moving average GDP, to smooth out the recessions and see more of what's happening to wages in the short term.