CEO compensation and CEO-to-worker compensation ratio, 1965–2011 (2011 dollars)
| CEO annual compensation (thousands)* | Worker annual compensation (thousands) | Stock market indices (adj. to 2011) | CEO-to-worker compensation ratio*** | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Options realized | Options granted | Private-sector production/ nonsupervisory workers | Firms’ industry** | S&P 500 | Dow Jones | Options realized | Options granted | |
| 1965 | 791 | 750 | 38.5 | n/a | 511 | 5,278 | 20.1 | 18.3 |
| 1973 | 1,033 | 980 | 45.8 | n/a | 451 | 3,881 | 22.1 | 20.1 |
| 1978 | 1,413 | 1,341 | 47.6 | n/a | 282 | 2,411 | 29.0 | 26.5 |
| 1989 | 2,631 | 2,496 | 44.0 | n/a | 525 | 4,081 | 58.5 | 53.3 |
| 1995 | 5,570 | 6,177 | 43.6 | 49.8 | 737 | 6,120 | 122.6 | 136.8 |
| 2000 | 19,482 | 19,977 | 45.9 | 52.0 | 1,730 | 13,006 | 383.4 | 411.3 |
| 2007 | 17,919 | 12,484 | 48.2 | 52.2 | 1,487 | 13,268 | 351.7 | 244.1 |
| 2008 | 17,491 | 11,648 | 48.4 | 53.0 | 1,183 | 10,902 | 314.9 | 225.7 |
| 2009 | 10,036 | 9,639 | 50.5 | 55.4 | 923 | 8,648 | 193.1 | 181.5 |
| 2010 | 12,042 | 11,003 | 50.9 | 56.0 | 1,092 | 10,215 | 228.0 | 205.9 |
| 2011 | 12,141 | 11,082 | 50.3 | 55.4 | 1,268 | 11,958 | 231.0 | 209.4 |
| Percent change | Change in ratio | |||||||
| 1965–1978 | 78.7% | 78.7% | 23.7% | n/a | -44.7% | -54.3% | 8.9 | 8.1 |
| 1978–2000 | 1,278.8% | 1,390.3% | -3.6% | n/a | 513.0% | 439.3% | 354.4 | 384.9 |
| 2000–2011 | -37.7% | -44.5% | 9.7% | 6.6% | -26.7% | -8.1% | -152.4 | -201.9 |
| 1978–2011 | 759.3% | 726.7% | 5.7% | n/a | 349.1% | 395.9% | 202.0 | 182.9 |
* "Options realized" compensation series includes salary, bonus, restricted stock grants, options exercised, and long-term incentive payouts for CEOs at the top 350 firms ranked by sales. "Options granted" compensation series includes salary, bonus, restricted stock grants, options granted, and long-term incentive payouts for CEOs at the top 350 firms ranked by sales.
** Annual compensation of production and nonsupervisory workers in the key industry of the firms in the sample.
*** Based on averaging specific firm CEO-to-worker compensation ratios and not the ratio of averages of CEO and worker compensation.
Sources: Authors' analysis of data from Compustat ExecuComp database, Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics program, and Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Account Tables