When was the last time you got a pay increase? Was it anywhere near the rate of inflation? If it feels as if your wage is shrinking and cost of living pressures are growing, you�re in good company. And it might just be harming productivity. Here�s why. Labor productivity (measured as gross domestic product per hour worked) has been shrinking for a year now, after decades of reasonable, albeit declining, productivity growth throughout the 1980s, 1990s and the first two decades of the 2000s.