Although it was not apparent until the stock market crash of 1929, the failure of businesses to increase wages along with increased worker productivity in the 1920s threatened the United States' long-term prosperity. Although workers' real wages (purchasing power) did improve: Question 14 options: the improvement was limited to workers in the South. salaries and dividends steadily declined. the improvement was more the result of falling prices than rising wages. women workers received most of the increases in pay