That's also what I meant. Any person is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay them.
Employees and their time is worth what the market determines.
And that, of course, can be a *lot* different that the value they contribute in creating goods and services.
When there is an oversupply of workers, unless there is some other means of setting price (wages), the market sets their wages lower, and the owners reap costs savings and greater profit.
Which is basically what we've been seeing over the past three decades.
Some economists say it is wrong to look at just wages because other aspects of employee compensation, notably health costs, have risen. But overall employee compensation including health and retirement benefits has also slipped badly, falling to its lowest share of national income in more than 50 years while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share over that time.