American CEOs make 351 times more than workers. In 1965 it was 15 to one

[Judi Lynn]

Indigo Olivier

Rather than address stagnant wages for hourly workers and yawning inequality, corporations are blaming a ‘labor shortage’

Tue 17 Aug 2021 06.24 EDT

Last week, the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan thinktank, released a report on the increasing pay gap between chief executives and workers. This research tells a familiar story with updated figures. When taking into account stocks, which now make up more than 80% of the average CEO’s compensation package, the report found that chief-executive pay has risen by an astounding 1,322% since 1978. That’s more than six times more than the top 0.1% of wage earners and more than 73 times higher than the growth of the typical worker’s pay, which grew by only 18% in the same time period. Most remarkable, however, is the 18.9% increase in CEO compensation between 2019 and 2020 alone.

CEO compensation outpacing that of the 0.1% is a clear indication that this growth is not the product of a competitive race for skills or increased productivity, the EPI report explains, so much as the “power of CEOs to extract concessions. Consequently, if CEOs earned less or were taxed more, there would be no adverse impact on the economy’s output or on employment,” the report concludes.

This report joins a slew of data sounding an alarm on a massive upward transfer of wealth to the top 1% over the course of the pandemic. One estimate by the Institute for Policy Studies puts this figure as high as $4tn, or a 54% increase in fortunes for the world’s 2,365 billionaires.

Today in the US, the CEO-to-worker pay gap stands at a staggering 351 to one, an unacceptable increase from 15 to one in 1965. In other words, the average CEO makes nearly nine times what the average person will earn over a lifetime in just one year.

It’s worth remembering that the federal minimum wage would be $24 an hour today had it kept pace with worker productivity, rather than $7.25, where it’s been stuck since 2009. Additionally, inflation has resulted in a nearly 2% pay cut over the past year despite modest gains in hourly wages, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/17/american-chief-executive-pay-wages-workers

[Skittles]

1. they essentially got all the raises we did not get

yup

[Maraya1969]

2. It is a good time now to create some sort of law that stops this theft. Maybe

regulating what percentage an executive can take as pay compared to employees. I'm sure some country has such a law on the books. Look to countries with small wage disparities and see what they do - like Japan.

[Tomconroy]

3. This is an area for the SEC to regulate.

These clowns steal from shareholders as well.

[appalachiablue]

4. No wonder the country has so many troubles

[ck4829]

5. K&R