Total employee compensation has increased a lot during that period but most of that has gone towards employer contributions to group health insurance rather than cash wages.
That too. I did a comparison with my brother recently, who lives in France. His effective net tax rate in France was 39%, my effective net tax rate in the US was 43%. That includes all taxes, what he gets from healthcare, etc. We really don't get a good deal here in the US, what we save in taxes gets eaten up by corporations.