Table 1

CEO compensation, CEO-to-worker compensation ratio, and stock prices (2017 dollars), 1965–2017

CEO annual compensation (in thousands)* Private-sector production/nonsupervisory workers annual compensation (in thousands) Stock market (indexed to $2017) CEO-to-worker compensation ratio***
Based on options realized Based on options granted All private-sector workers Firms’ industry** S&P 500 Dow Jones Based on options realized Based on options granted
1965 902 688 40.9 n/a 588 6,078 20.0 14.5
1973 1,177 898 48.0 n/a 520 4,473 22.2 16.1
1978 1,612 1,230 49.1 n/a 325 2,780 29.7 21.6
1989 3,004 2,291 46.7 n/a 605 4,704 58.2 42.3
1995 5,830 6,468 46.8 56.3 850 7,058 112.3 123.2
2000 21,048 21,136 49.4 58.9 1,994 14,985 343.5 360.5
2007 19,503 13,583 51.4 61.2 1,714 15,290 327.4 226.9
2009 10,983 10,550 53.4 62.5 1,063 9,963 187.8 175.7
2013 15,903 12,193 52.9 62.2 1,696 15,487 278.6 204.7
2014 16,843 12,688 53.1 62.9 1,960 17,023 284.0 213.4
2015 16,564 12,716 53.9 64.2 2,088 17,814 271.6 208.5
2016 16,030 13,039 54.5 62.2 2,095 17,927 270.1 219.9
Projected 2017 18,855 13,264 54.6 62.4 2,398 21,292 311.7 220.7
2016 FH 15,200 12,768 54.5 62.2 2,095 17,927 257.3 215.7
2017 FH 17,880 12,988 54.6 62.4 2,398 21,292 298.9 216.5
Percent change Change in ratio
1965–1978 78.7% 78.7% 19.9% n/a -44.7% -54.3% 9.8 7.1
1978–2000 1,205.5% 1,618.8% 0.7% n/a 513.0% 439.1% 313.8 338.8
2000–2017 -10.4% -37.2% 10.5% 6.0% 20.2% 42.1% -31.8 -139.7
2009-2017 71.7% 25.7% 2.1% -0.1% 125.6% 113.7% 123.9 45.0
1978–2017 1,069.5% 978.6% 11.2% n/a 636.9% 666.0% 282.0 199.1
2016–2017 17.6% 1.7% 0.2% 0.3% 14.5% 18.8% 41.6 0.9

*CEO annual compensation is computed using the “options realized” and “options granted” compensation series for CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales. The “options realized” series includes salary, bonus, restricted stock grants, options realized, and long-term incentive payouts for CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales. The “options granted” series includes salary, bonus, restricted stock grants, value of options granted, and long-term incentive payouts.
**Annual compensation of the workers in the key industry of the firms in the sample.
***Based on averaging specific firm ratios and not the ratio of averages of CEO and worker compensation.

Notes: Projected value for 2017 is based on the change in CEO pay as measured from June 2016 to June 2017 applied to the full-year 2016 value. Projections for compensation based on options granted and options realized are calculated separately. “FH” denotes preliminary values from the “first half” of the year.

Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database, the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics data series, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis NIPA tables

Copy the code below to embed this chart on your website.

This chart appears in:

Previous chart: «

Next chart: »