TECH Signal 491
Corporate profits hit record highs as firms refuse to cut prices after shortages ease
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Illustration only Photo by Declan Sun on Unsplash
Firms have used supply shortages to raise prices and keep them high, pushing profit margins to record levels while workers' income share falls to a record low.
The 'rockets and feathers' pattern means price signals no longer track supply and demand, complicating cost modeling for engineers. With profit margins at record highs and workers' share at a record low, the pricing behavior has broad economic consequences that affect engineering decisions in consumer goods and logistics.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
S&P 500 net profit margins hit an all-time high of 16.9% in Q2 2026.
Workers' share of national income fell to 52.9%, the lowest since 1947.
Corporate profits drove 53% of inflation by mid-2023, up from 11% in the prior forty years.
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