Doesn't seem much of a mystery. The modern workplace is focused far too much on political and social issues that aren't related to the company's output. There are more and more roles dedicated to servicing these non-productive tasks and more productive roles are being filled by people whose goals are to service the non-productive tasks, creating a double whammy of drag on productivity.
Pay goes down. Productivity goes down. I don't see how this is not to be expected.