That the Great and the Good can be somewhat divorced from reality is a traditional left wing complaint. Hunh, what do those aristos safe and secure in their castles know about real life, eh? But if it is possible that the Great and the Good are in error it is possible that they are so when they agree with said lefties.
This fourth industrial revolution, just like all the others, will lead to a growth spurt. But the last big epoch of technological change was accompanied by political change that ensured those making the cars, the washing machines and the TV sets could also buy them. Full employment policies, capital controls, progressive income tax and strong trade unions ensured this was the case.
The first and second industrial revolutions were not accompanied by those policies and yet those making the products of the new technological revolution were still able to buy what was produced. Thus it cannot be those policies which led to that outcome and thus also it will not be necessary to have those policies to deal with the fourth such revolution.
This still leaves entirely open whether those policies are a good idea or not (they're not) but this particular justification of them is nonsense.
The WEF’s argument is that the ecosystem that once ensured growth was translated into higher living standards has deteriorated as a result of technological change, global integration, domestic deregulation and increased immigration. It has a comprehensive list of remedies, including fair and efficient taxes to ensure adequate investment in education and physical infrastructure, action to tackle corruption and the concentration of rents, an adherence to core labour standard and worker protections.
The World Economic Forum is the distillation of what today's Great and the Good do believe. And quite clearly they are wrong on the matter, as the lefties used to say about those of an earlier age.
Amusingly, it's actually Karl Marx who got this point right. Once there is no reserve army of the unemployed then competition between the capitalists for the labour they can exploit is the very thing which pushes wages up. It is this, alone and unadorned, which makes wages rise with productivity.
Or as we've been saying all these years, make sure we've competitive markets and she'll be right.