Soaring CEO-to-typical-worker pay ratios driven by CEO pay: Annual CEO pay, typical workers’ pay, and typical workers’ pay if it had grown with economywide productivity since 1965
| CEO pay | Typical worker pay, actual | Typical worker pay, productivity-adjusted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | $1,072 | $48.71 | $48.71 |
| 1966 | |||
| 1967 | |||
| 1968 | |||
| 1969 | |||
| 1970 | |||
| 1971 | |||
| 1972 | |||
| 1973 | $1,406 | $57.38 | $59.54 |
| 1974 | |||
| 1975 | |||
| 1976 | |||
| 1977 | |||
| 1978 | $1,926 | $58.68 | $62.25 |
| 1979 | |||
| 1980 | |||
| 1981 | |||
| 1982 | |||
| 1983 | |||
| 1984 | |||
| 1985 | |||
| 1986 | |||
| 1987 | |||
| 1988 | |||
| 1989 | $3,593 | $56.00 | $67.27 |
| 1990 | |||
| 1991 | |||
| 1992 | |||
| 1993 | |||
| 1994 | |||
| 1995 | $6,968 | $56.01 | $71.60 |
| 1996 | |||
| 1997 | |||
| 1998 | |||
| 1999 | |||
| 2000 | $25,237 | $59.12 | $77.69 |
| 2001 | |||
| 2002 | |||
| 2003 | |||
| 2004 | |||
| 2005 | |||
| 2006 | |||
| 2007 | $22,195 | $61.54 | $88.27 |
| 2008 | |||
| 2009 | $11,924 | $63.95 | $90.34 |
| 2010 | |||
| 2011 | |||
| 2012 | |||
| 2013 | |||
| 2014 | |||
| 2015 | |||
| 2016 | |||
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | |||
| 2019 | |||
| 2020 | |||
| 2021 | $29,596 | $68.75 | $101.16 |
Source: Data on CEO pay and typical workers’ pay from Table 1 in Bivens and Kandra (2023). CEO pay uses the “options realized” measure of CEO pay. Productivity adjustment to typical workers’ pay done using productivity series from https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/.