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Seven official series · one honest question

What changed around 1971?

Productivity, pay, prices, family income, inequality, debt, and saving all tell different stories. Put them on one timeline before deciding what 1971 means.

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7original charts

8official series

1947–2025combined coverage

CSV + JSONopen data

August151971
A real policy event—not a magic dividing line

The New Economic Policy address

President Richard Nixon announced a 90-day wage-and-price freeze and suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold for foreign monetary authorities.

Read the official Nixon Library record ↗
01

Read the definition. Similar-sounding measures can describe different populations or concepts.

02

Follow the whole line. A trend can begin before 1971, bend later, reverse, or pause.

03

Ask what else changed. Policy, technology, demographics, global trade, energy, and institutions can overlap.

Chapter 1

Work & pay

Start with what each hour of work produced, what it paid, and how much business income flowed to labor.

Did productivity and real hourly compensation keep moving together?

Productivity and real hourly compensation since 1950

Annual averages of official nonfarm-business productivity and real hourly compensation indexes, placed on the same 1971 = 100 scale.

Labor productivityfrom 1950Real hourly compensationfrom 1950
2025Labor productivity 273.5Real hourly compensation 171.5
40.0105.0170.0235.0300.0197119501961197219831994200520162025

Index (1971 = 100)

What the line says

By 2025, productivity reached 273.5 on the 1971 = 100 scale; real hourly compensation reached 171.5. This chart measures divergence, not a single cause.

How it was built

Election.org averages each complete year of BLS quarterly index observations, then divides every year by its 1971 annual average and multiplies by 100.

How has labor's share changed around the 1971 marker?

Labor's share of nonfarm business income since 1950

The BLS labor-share index shows compensation paid to workers relative to nonfarm business output, normalized to 1971.

Labor sharefrom 1950
2025Labor share 86.6
80.087.595.0102.5110.0197119501961197219831994200520162025

Index (1971 = 100)

What the line says

The latest complete annual average is 86.6 on the 1971 = 100 scale.

How it was built

Election.org averages each complete year of quarterly BLS labor-share index values, then rebases the annual series to 1971 = 100.

Chapter 2

Prices & income

Separate the price level from purchasing-power-adjusted income—and income levels from their distribution.

How much has the consumer price level changed since 1971?

Consumer prices since 1950

The all-items consumer price index, averaged by year and placed on a 1971 = 100 scale.

Consumer price levelfrom 1950
2025Consumer price level 729.0
0.0210.0420.0630.0840.0197119501961197219831994200520162025

Price index (1971 = 100)

What the line says

The 2025 annual price index was 729.0 when the 1971 annual average is set to 100.

How it was built

Election.org averages the 12 monthly seasonally adjusted CPI observations in each complete year and rebases the annual series to 1971 = 100.

How has the purchasing-power-adjusted income of the median family changed?

Real median family income since 1953

Census Bureau median family income after adjustment for inflation, in chained 2024 dollars.

Real median family incomefrom 1953
2024Real median family income $105,800
$34,420$53,588$72,755$91,923$111,090197119531964197519861997200820192024

Chained 2024 dollars

What the line says

The latest published observation is $105,800 in chained 2024 dollars.

How it was built

Election.org republishes the annual Census Bureau series distributed by FRED; no interpolation is applied.

How has measured family-income inequality changed?

Family income inequality since 1947

The Census Bureau Gini index for U.S. families, where a larger number indicates a less equal distribution of income.

Family income Ginifrom 1947
2024Family income Gini 0.456
0.0002.5005.0007.50010.000197119471959197119831995200720192024

Gini index (0–1)

What the line says

The latest published family-income Gini observation is 0.456. The series describes distribution; it does not explain why it changed.

How it was built

Election.org republishes the annual Census Bureau family-income Gini series distributed by FRED; no interpolation is applied.

Chapter 3

Debt & saving

Household and federal balance-sheet measures add two more views of the postwar economy.

How large is federal debt relative to the economy?

Federal debt as a share of GDP since 1966

Total federal public debt divided by gross domestic product, averaged across each complete year.

Federal debt / GDPfrom 1966
2025Federal debt / GDP 120.7%
20.0%47.5%75.0%102.5%130.0%197119661975198419932002201120202025

Percent of GDP

What the line says

The latest complete annual average is 120.7% of GDP.

How it was built

Election.org averages all four quarterly observations in each complete year of the Treasury and BEA ratio distributed by FRED.

How has the personal saving rate changed?

Personal saving rate since 1959

The share of disposable personal income left after personal outlays, averaged across each complete year.

Personal saving ratefrom 1959
2025Personal saving rate 4.6%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%197119591969197919891999200920192025

Percent of disposable personal income

What the line says

The latest complete annual average is 4.6% of disposable personal income.

How it was built

Election.org averages all 12 monthly BEA personal-saving-rate observations in each complete year.

The honest answer

Something changed.
The charts do not prove one thing caused all of it.

The strongest conclusion is descriptive: several important U.S. measures followed different paths across the decades surrounding 1971. Explaining those paths requires testing competing causes, not choosing a favorite date and working backward.

Supported

Timing and magnitude

These series can show when a measure rose, fell, diverged, or stayed flat—and by how much under its published definition.

Not supported by these charts alone

A single-cause verdict

No line here can isolate monetary policy, trade, taxes, technology, demographics, regulation, energy shocks, or any other cause by itself.

Keep following the public record

Now see the political system that made the choices.

Explore turnout, Congress, party identity, representation, election results, and the data behind every view.

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Source ledger

Every number has a route home.

Download CSV ↓View JSON ↗
OPHNFBNonfarm business labor productivityU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · quarterlyCOMPRNFBNonfarm business real hourly compensationU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · quarterlyPRS85006173Nonfarm business labor shareU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · quarterlyCPIAUCSLConsumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All ItemsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · monthlyGINIALLRFGINI Index for U.S. FamiliesU.S. Census Bureau · annualMEFAINUSA672NReal Median Family Income in the United StatesU.S. Census Bureau · annualGFDEGDQ188SFederal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of GDPU.S. Department of the Treasury and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis · quarterlyPSAVERTPersonal Saving RateU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis · monthly

Inspired by the question posed by WTF Happened in 1971? Election.org's charts, transformations, copy, sourcing, and conclusions are original. Data verified 2026-08-28.