[Traster]

These are relative terms. Let's say in 1980 I was flipping burgers for $3 an hour and making $10 for the company. Let's (just for the sake of argument, ignore inflation) say in 2020 I'm making $20 for the company. For my pay to keep pace with productivity gains I'd be making $6 an hour, leaving my employer $7 better off (they were making $7, now $14). My pay would've kept pace with productvity - it doubled, my pay doubled.

When people say that "wages kept pace with productivity growth" that's what they're saying - that a 10% increase in productivity resulted ina 10% increase in pay, not a $10 increase in productivity resulted ina $10 increase in pay.