Common Dreams: ‘Their Inflation Strategy Is Working’: Corporate Profits Soared to Record High in 2021

March 31, 2022 Media

Federal data released Wednesday shows that U.S. corporate profits jumped 25% to record highs in 2021 even as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the nation’s economy, disrupting supply chains, hammering low-wage workers, and helping to push inflation to levels not seen in decades.

According to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), domestic corporate profits adjusted for inventory valuation and capital consumption reached $2.8 trillion last year, up from $2.2 trillion in 2020—the largest increase since 1976.

Employee compensation also increased in 2021, just not at the pace of corporate profits. Citing the new BEA data, Bloomberg reported that “employee compensation rose 11%, but the so-called labor share of national income—essentially, the portion that’s paid out as wages and salaries—fell back to pre-pandemic levels.”

The American Economic Liberties Project expressed a similar view on Twitter:

“Corporate America is celebrating record-breaking profits while jacking up prices for working families and small businesses. That’s not inflation — it’s corporate profiteering, plain and simple.”