Productivity of labor

That each man receives his marginal value product means that each man is paid what he is worth in producing for con­sumers. But this does not mean that increases in his worth over the years are necessarily caused by his own improvement. On the contrary, as we have seen, the rise is primarily due to the increas­ing abundance of capital goods provided by the capitalists.

...says Rothbard in Man, Economy and State (chapter 9). This is often forgotten. Why does a man, with no education and only minimal training, in general, earn a lot more in Europe than in Africa? Because in Europe, this man is given access to tools and equipment which the capitalist bought in order to improve the worth and value creation of his employee. Unions would do well to remember this. They tend to focus their efforts on consumption of existing capital, but forget that it is mainly increase in capital that really gives rise to an increase on the pay-check of the worker.