Editor’s note:This post was updated on July 7, 2025, to show final survey results.
There is a broad policy consensus that too many American workers and households face serious downward wage pressures. There are many sources of such pressure, and it’s difficult to prove which factors are most influential. But we believe in the ITIF community’s collective wisdom, so we asked which factors you think policymakers should prioritize. Readers and social media followers shared their views by answering the following poll question via SurveyMonkey:
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important are each of the following dynamics in terms of putting downward pressure on American workers’ wages and household incomes?
▪ Globalization, offshoring, and competition from China and other low-wage nations.
▪ High levels of immigration that increase labor supply, especially in labor-intensive areas such as construction, restaurants, maintenance, elderly care, etc.
▪ Technology and automation that reduce jobs, and/or lower worker skill requirements.
▪ Reduced employee bargaining power due to the decline of unions, and the rise of gig economies and part-time workers.
▪ Excessive corporate profits and/or executive pay.
▪ The growth of low-productivity services jobs—e.g., marketing, administration, HR, government, health care, day care—as opposed to STEM-based and manufacturing work.
▪ Low US productivity growth due to insufficient infrastructure, excessive regulation, weak incentives, poor skills, and/or low education levels.
▪ Increased demand for childcare, cleaning, fast food, and other low-wage work traditionally done more in the home.
▪ The rise of single-parent and single-adult households with lower household income averages.
▪ Income and Social Security tax rates and other policies that reward wealth and punish work.
The poll received 30 responses between June 16 and July 4, 2025. Figure 1 summarizes results.
Figure 1: Rank ordered views on the importance of dynamics putting downward pressure on wages and household incomes (1 = completely unimportant; 10 = extremely important)
