Newly released economic data shows that the benefits of President Donald Trump's economy keep accruing to major corporations while US workers get left with scraps.
As noted in an analysis published on Wednesday by Groundwork Collaborative, the latest gross domestic product (GDP) numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) show that workers' wages in the second quarter of 2026 accounted for just 54.7% of national income, the lowest share ever recorded.
Labor compensation once accounted for 60% or higher of GDP over a span of six decades until the start of the Great Recession in 2008. Since then, wages have only risen above 60% of GDP for one year, in 2020, when the federal government sent people stimulus checks and boosted benefits to help get through the economic shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While workers' wages account for an ever-shrinking share of GDP, corporations have seen their fortunes rise. Groundwork Collaborative pointed out that corporate profits last quarter surged by 9.1%, as companies received refunds for the Trump-enacted tariffs that the Supreme Court ruled were illegal earlier this year.
According to macroeconomic researcher Eric Basmajian, corporate profits accounted for over 12% of GDP on the quarter, which marks a record high.
In addition to its GDP report, the BEA also released its monthly report for personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which showed overall prices posted a yearly rise of 3.7%, above economists' expectations.
Elizabeth Pancotti, vice president of policy, advocacy, and research at Groundwork Collaborative, said Trump's tariffs and his illegal war with Iran were big factors in driving up prices in July.
"Today’s report reveals that corporate bosses and Wall Street investors are cashing in as working families pay the price for the president's economic mismanagement," said Pancotti. "Despite his bluster, Trump has built an economy for billionaires while working families are left in the dust."
A separate report released Wednesday by Oxford Economics warned that Trump's trade war with Canada, America's largest trading partner, is likely to do further damage to the US economy unless quickly reversed.
Economist Bernard Yaros, author of the report, warned that Trump's threatened 50% tariffs on Canadian cars could be particularly painful for US consumers as its "inflationary fallout is unlikely to be benign" if implemented.
