The History and Future of Compensation
Visualizing the conflict between American labor and industry to understand why we earn what we do
I started the research for this article because I find the process of compensation to be absurd. I’ve always hated negotiating. I’ve spent too much time wondering if what I’m getting paid is comparable to others in the business. I’ve been angry to learn that a coworker who is contributing incredible value far beyond their job’s requirements has the lowest salary in the company. And I’ve been baffled by the experience of setting the wages of others, only to see how arbitrary and subjective the process can be.
What I didn’t know at the time was that this project would send me down a rabbit hole filled with labor history, economic theory, government policy, and institutional norms. It’s a rabbit hole that I haven’t fully emerged from, still having a great deal more to learn, but one that has changed the way I look at the experience of work and the perpetual conflict between labor and employers.
Personally, I can’t really understand something unless I can visualize it, which is why this article is filled with visual slide decks and graphics to explore the mechanisms of compensation, the historical context, and the potential paths forward. It is my hope that these tools…
