America's post-industrial blues

Washington

EVER since Donald Trump's election, a cottage industry of politicians, journalists, scholars and commentators has sought to understand what motivates his supporters. Theories have ranged from globalisation to a rebellion against Washington elitism to racism. But the true cause may have been overlooked - that of a "post-industrial society".

It has imposed on the economy a wage structure that systematically generates inequality between the majority of Americans and the upper-middle class, roughly defined as top 20 per cent with a threshold income of a bit more than US$100,000. Two new studies demonstrate this, though neither explicitly uses the term "post-industrial society".

Consider: From 1960 to 2014, the annual earnings, corrected for inflation, of men who are professionals and business executives rose 70 per cent, reported Stephen Rose in a study for Third Way, a slightly left-of-centre think tank. By contrast, annual earnings for male factory workers rose only 18 per cent over the sam…