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Capital share index

Ownership gauge

How much of what the US economy produces goes to capital rather than to labor, as one number from 0 to 1.

Ownership gauge

49.1%About 49 cents of every dollar earned in the U.S. goes to people who own things (businesses, property, stocks), not to wages (2025).

Owners 49.1%Workers 50.9%
1929latest (2025)

Tap the arrows or swipe to see past years

See how we got here

If AI multiplies output, the gains reach people through what they own. This is the share of output that already goes to owners.

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED (A4002E1A156NBEA), last observation 2025, capital share index, 1 minus labor share · How it is computed

Series

Series
A4002E1A156NBEA: Shares of gross domestic income: Compensation of employees, paid
Release
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Units
Ratio (0 to 1), FRED percent / 100, annual
Observations
1929 to 2025 (97)
Last observation
2025: labor share 0.509
Fetched
2026-10-25

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED (A4002E1A156NBEA)

41.046.051.0Jan 1929Jan 1948Jan 1967Jan 1987Jan 2006Jan 2025
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Method

Labor share is the share of gross domestic income paid to workers as compensation of employees. The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes it for the United States as a percent, shown here as a ratio from 0 to 1.

The index is 1 minus the latest labor share: the part of gross domestic income not paid to employees, which goes to owners of capital (profits, rents, interest), plus depreciation and taxes on production.

The change line compares the index at the latest observation with the index at the first observation (since 1929 in the BEA series), in percentage points rounded to one decimal.

Limitations

  • Annual data, published with a lag of a few years. The latest observation is not this year.
  • 1 minus labor share counts depreciation and taxes on production as non-labor income, so it overstates what owners actually receive.
  • Income of the self-employed is not counted as compensation of employees, so part of what they earn from work shows up on the owners' side.
  • It says nothing about who owns the capital. A rising capital share can be widely or narrowly held.

Context

BLS nonfarm business labor share (PRS85006173) is an index with 2017 = 100, not a 0 to 1 share, so it is not used in the gauge.

Nonfarm Business Sector: Labor Share for All Workers (PRS85006173), index 2017=100, not a 0-1 share: 2026-04-01 93.4

Not financial, legal or tax advice.