Table 2

CEO-to-top-0.1% and college-to-high-school wage ratios, selected years, 1979–2019

Ratio Log ratio
CEO compensation to top 0.1% wage earners College-to-high school wages CEO compensation to top 0.1% wage earners College-to-high school wages
1979 3.26 1.41 1.18 0.35
1989 2.63 1.59 0.97 0.46
1993 3.05 1.64 1.11 0.49
2000 7.77 1.75 2.05 0.56
2007 4.36 1.77 1.47 0.57
2009 4.61 1.74 1.53 0.55
2019 6.44 1.83 1.86 0.60
Change
1979⁠–⁠2007 1.10 0.35 0.29 0.22
1979–2019 3.17 0.42 0.68 0.26
1989–2019 3.81 0.24 0.90 0.14

Notes: Wages of top 0.1% of wage earners reflect W-2 annual earnings, which includes the value of exercised stock options and vested stock awards. The college-to-high-school wage ratios compare hourly wages of workers who have a college degree with hourly wages of workers who have only a high school education.

Source: Authors’ analysis of EPI State of Working America Data Library data on top 0.1% wages in Mishel and Kandra 2020; data on wages by educational attainment from the EPI State of Working America Data Library; and data on CEO compensation from an extrapolation of Kaplan’s (2012b) CEO compensation series.

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