In 2023, CEOs were paid 290 times as much as a typical worker—in contrast to 1965, when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker. 

5 comments

1. CEO Pay Skyrocketed 1,085% Since 1978 and are getting Paid 290 Times the Typical Worker – Is This Sustainable?

   This report from the Economic Policy Institute reveals that while CEO pay dipped slightly in 2023, it has surged 1,085% since 1978, compared to just a 24% rise in typical workers’ pay. Even with a minor dip, the gap between executives and workers remains enormous.

   What do you think needs to be done to address this imbalance?

   Are regulations on executive compensation necessary, or should we focus on raising workers’ wages?

2. Seems like a corporate governance issue.

   Just make public shareholder say on pay votes binding.

   Otherwise private businesses are going to pay for what they think is valuable, and good management is apparently pretty valuable.

3. How many employees are under one CEO in comparison?

4. Corpo: “If you make me rich, I’ll make you rich too.”
   Avg worker: Ok, I’ve given my best years to grow this company and corporations are richer than ever, we have ultra rich billionaires and will have a trillionaire in the next decade, when will the money start trickling down?
   “Who are you again?”

5. Had the more equitable income distributions of the three decades following World War II (1945 through 1974) merely held steady, the aggregate annual income of Americans earning below the 90th percentile would have been $2.5 trillion higher in the year 2018 alone. That is an amount equal to nearly 12 percent of GDP—enough to more than double median income—enough to pay every single working American in the bottom nine deciles an additional $1,144 a month. Every month. Every single year.

   That’s $50 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of working Americans had inequality held constant—$50 trillion that would have built a far larger and more prosperous economy—$50 trillion that would have enabled the vast majority of Americans to enter this pandemic far more healthy, resilient, and financially secure.

   For example, are you a typical Black man earning $35,000 a year? You are being paid at least $26,000 a year *less* than you would have had income distributions held constant. Are you a college-educated, prime-aged, full-time worker earning $72,000? Depending on the inflation index used (PCE or CPI, respectively), rising inequality is costing you between $48,000 and $63,000 a year. But whatever your race, gender, educational attainment, urbanicity, or income, the data show, if you earn below the 90th percentile, the relentlessly upward redistribution of income since 1975 is coming out of your pocket. [https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/](https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/)