{"id":167122,"date":"2020-08-24T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=167122"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:09:12","slug":"as-wages-stagnate-and-executive-pay-continues-to-balloon-report-shows-top-ceos-now-make-320-times-more-than-typical-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/08\/as-wages-stagnate-and-executive-pay-continues-to-balloon-report-shows-top-ceos-now-make-320-times-more-than-typical-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"As Wages Stagnate and Executive Pay \u2018Continues to Balloon,\u2019 Report Shows Top CEOs Now Make 320 Times More Than Typical Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New research from the Economic Policy Institute finds that CEO compensation grew by 1,167% from 1978 to 2019, “far outstripping” the growth of the stock market.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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18 Aug 2020 – <\/em>New\u00a0research<\/a> published today by the Economic Policy Institute shows that the top executives at the largest corporations in the United States now make 320 times more than what their typical employees earn in wages and benefits.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCEO pay can be curbed to reduce the growing gap between the highest earners and everyone else with little, if any, impact on the output of the economy or firm performance.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u2014Jori Kandra, Economic Policy Institute<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

EPI\u2019s latest annual analysis of executive compensation finds that the CEOs of the top 350 firms in the U.S. raked in an average of $21.3 million in 2019, a 14% increase from 2018. The 320-1 ratio of CEO-to-worker pay in 2019 is more than five times higher than the 61-1 ratio reported in 1989.<\/p>\n

The think tank\u2019s research comes amid a global pandemic that is likely to\u00a0exacerbate<\/a>\u00a0the decades-long trend of surging income and wealth inequality in the U.S.\u2014a trend that, according to EPI, won\u2019t be reversed by CEOs\u00a0opting to take salary cuts<\/a>\u00a0during a public health crisis that has left tens of millions of Americans\u00a0jobless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EPI\u2019s new report shows that CEO compensation grew by 1,167% from 1978 to 2019, \u201cfar outstripping\u201d the growth of the stock market.<\/p>\n

\u201cCEOs who volunteer to take salary cuts aren\u2019t giving up a lot given how much of their pay comes from stock awards and options,\u201d EPI said.<\/p>\n

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Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow at EPI and co-author of the new report, said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cwhile wage growth for the majority of Americans has remained relatively stagnant for decades, CEO compensation continues to balloon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has fueled the spectacular income growth of the top 0.1% and 1.0% and the growth of income inequality overall,\u201d said Mishel, who\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0that CEO pay could rise again in 2020 despite the nationwide economic collapse caused by the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cCEOs offering salary cuts during the coronavirus pandemic yield press releases,\u201d Mishel added, \u201cbut no real progress toward reducing inequality and raising workers\u2019 wages.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a substantive alternative to CEO\u00a0public relations stunts<\/a>, EPI proposed several policy changes that would significantly reduce the yawning gap between CEO compensation and typical worker pay:<\/p>\n