But increased productivity is expected to continue to work more to the benefit of business owners than workers, Wilmington Trust said.
The report noted that compensation paid by U.S. firms to employees as a share of GDP remains historically low—50.9% in 2014 compared with 56.5% in 2001. This, combined with the tech-driven elimination of jobs, will further fuel the populist sentiments that have been sweeping the globe the past several years, the company said.
"While productivity growth invariably leads to 'growing the pie' of revenue and margins, it's becoming clearer that it's the businesses, not the workers, who are benefiting the most from this," Shue said. "Wilmington Trust's view is that this rise in populism is in part an outgrowth of the unintended consequences of productivity, which includes more gains for owners than workers and the secular disruption of the labor force."