USA Today Cites KPMG Economist's Chart as Profit-Wage Gap Hits Record

USA Today published an analysis on 17 February 2026 that noted a commonly used measure comparing corporate profits to employee compensation reached its highest level on record since World War II, and the piece prominently cited a chart prepared by Diane Swonk of KPMG Economics. The KPMG chart is labeled "Chart 2: Owners of capital leave workers in the dust" and attributes its data to KPMG Economics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Haver Analytics.

The chart title and its axis label "Employee compensation and corporate profits as share of GDP, 4Q MA %" were reproduced in the aggregation, and the visual includes the notation "IVA and CCAdj = Inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments." KPMG's explicit claim in the excerpt is that "the share of the economy going to profits rather than wages has reached a post-WWII high." The excerpts provided do not include numeric percent-of-GDP values or the specific quarter where the peak occurs.

Media outlets amplified the framing that followed the KPMG analysis. Ground News aggregated coverage listing CNN, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, CNBC, Business Insider, Corriere Della Sera and others under the theme "# For corporate profits over worker wages, the gap has never been wider." Business Insider's headline in the aggregation read "For corporate profits over worker wages, the gap has never been wider," while CNBC ran a variation called "The 'boomcession': Why Americans feel left behind by a growing economy," and the LA Times/Bloomberg angle was summarized as "Economy expands rapidly, but job growth flatlines in unprecedented 'jobless boom'."

KPMG's accompanying text tied the profit-wage gap to consumer behavior and political risk. The excerpt states "The result is a widening split in spending patterns, with affluent consumers driving most of the gains." It also records that "Consumer confidence hit a 12-year low in January, according to the Conference Board" and that "Consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan improved modestly, but remains near record lows." KPMG further notes a global trust metric: "The gap in trust between high- and low-income households hit a new record in late 2025; the data go back to 2000. The US led that shift, followed by Indonesia, Nigeria, France and Saudi Arabia."

The KPMG excerpt connects macro policy and labor-market dynamics: "The Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates to bolster the labor market before pausing in January. It is too soon to feel the effects of those cuts." The report also observes classification effects in the labor market: "The drop in the unemployment rate in January reflected some catch-up following the government shutdown, those on temporary layoff fell along with those forced to accept part- instead of full-time jobs." Broader commentary cited in the aggregation included Business Insider's summary of Mohamed El-Erian saying that the US job market has decoupled from economic expansion and "the trend is likely to continue and could result in economic pain."

KPMG's note on political stakes is stark: the chart is presented as "a measure of inequality, which creates social and economic instability. The French revolution is an extreme example." Ancillary KPMG observations in the excerpt flagged consumer drivers and sectoral impacts by name: "Tax refunds, World Cup buoy spending," "Used vehicle sales are expected to benefit more from tax refunds than new. Few consumers can afford new models," "Tariffs dealt a blow to domestic vehicle margins in 2025," and "Depreciation in the yen and won are expected to offset tariffs on Japanese and South Korean imports." On labor supply and immigration the excerpt reads "Areas hit hardest by immigration raids are struggling. Studies on deportations in the 2010s show that foreign and native born workers tend to be compliments rather than substitutes. Entire ecosystems were hit by the loss in immigrant workers."

Key verification steps remain before publishing numerics or reproducing the chart: obtain the full KPMG Economics report and underlying series from Diane Swonk, and pull the BEA and Haver Analytics data that underpin the "post-WWII high" claim. Until those series are reviewed, the claim stands on the qualitative language KPMG and USA Today used and the chart label credited to Diane Swonk and KPMG Economics.