"We have more technology than ever before yet it seems like job quality and stability peaked some time ago. Why is the retirement age growing? Why is the gape between wages and productivity increasing?"

- Your first statement is some sort of nostalgia or rose colored glasses. We have hard data on this. Globally speaking, but also in America specifically, people work fewer hours for higher inflation-adjusted pay than they did 20, 50, or 100 years ago. My grandfather was born in 1926, had the exact same educational attainment as me (although he attended a much more prestigious university), and I earn more and work less than he did. I have more vacation days. I have a higher savings rate.

- To your second question, the retirement age is increasing because our demographic pyramid around the world is inverting. This a function of birth rates being below replacement for too long. It's just math. Too many old people and not enough young people. But to my previous point, the ability to plan your family like this and have fewer kids is also a result of increased wealth and opportunity (to do things other than raise children).

- Lastly, the gap between wages and productivity is increasing because wages are only indirectly a result of productivity. They are directly a result of demand for labor against the supply available. Increased productivity allows companies to have the resources to bid more, (hence why some comparable role like middle management in a tech firm pays a lot more than middle management at a grocery retailer). But I don't view this as a problem. As long as the tide is generally rising, and it is as my first paragraph explained, no one is hurt by a gap increasing. It's not a zero sum game where a winner implies a loser. But also, increased productivity results in lower prices, which is equivalent to getting a raise. The classic example are things like electronics, movies, music, travel, and food which have gotten much cheaper than they used to be. In 1950, Americans spent an average of 21% of their incomes on food. In 2025, that number is 10%. That's the equivalent of raise in that one can pay for necessities and have more spending power left over. Interestingly, the areas people complain about are mostly housing, education, and healthcare. These are three sectors that have seen zero to negative productivity increases over the past few decades. Yes, the construction sector in America is less productive than it was in 1990 per man hour of labor, and higher education is a total wreck in terms of productivity. Places like Stanford now have more administrators than students.

One of the most interesting books I have read is Franz Innerhofers Schöne Tage which describes his experience on a farm in Austria in the second half of the 20th century. The experiences of farm hands and maids was absolutely horrifying and each one would take a soul less office job at Dunder Mifflin or an Uber Eats route without question. People were basically property even in society without slavery. The US 19th century is really a special case because the land was all recently stolen from the native Americans who mostly died of diseases. So those people that colonized the land had an unknown amount of freedom because that only existed for a short time in history and even they were lacking any access to medical services or real education. What’s not seeing half your children dying worth to you?