What accounts for the small increase in real wages? The role of accelerated capital obsolescence

Based on a CES production function (with a constant elasticity of substitution between capital and labour), we show that the small increases in real wages in OECD countries can have causes other than the decline in employees' bargaining power: An increase in capital intensity (which explains why real wages are falling relative to productivity); A low total factor productivity or increased capital obsolescence (which explain the small increases in the real wage in absolute terms). We see the possibility that an increase in capital obsolescence (speed of depreciation and of replacement) may be one of the causes of the small increases in real wages as very interesting.