>If the median worker isn't responsible for the increased productivity, are they entitled to a share of the work of other people?
If the median worker isn't responsible for the increased productivity, it follows trivially that you can do something to increase the median worker's productivity, earning higher profits, until all firms in your sector do it and you all end up having to compete for the increasingly productive workers by raising wages.
The most likely inference, a priori, for where this process has broken down is: employers aren't having to compete for workers very hard any more, so competition doesn't push labor prices up.
If the median worker isn't responsible for the increased productivity, it follows trivially that you can do something to increase the median worker's productivity, earning higher profits, until all firms in your sector do it and you all end up having to compete for the increasingly productive workers by raising wages.
https://www.epi.org/publication/understanding-the-historic-d...
The most likely inference, a priori, for where this process has broken down is: employers aren't having to compete for workers very hard any more, so competition doesn't push labor prices up.