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Your boss likely had a good year in 2017, even if you did not. Executives saw a huge surge in compensation in the past year, according to a study released Thursday by the non-profit think tank the Economic Policy Institute. The average chief executive officer at the 350 largest firms in the U.S. received $18.9 million in compensation in 2017, a 17.6% increase over 2016. Meanwhile, the typical worker’s compensation remained flat, rising a mere 0.3%. (whole story)
MarketWatch August 17, 2018 -
Last week, the Economic Policy Institute released a report that found the average compensation for the CEOs of the 350 largest companies in the United States averaged $18.9 million last year — a 17.6 percent increase over the previous year. That was boosted, in part, by a robust stock market, which likely motivated some to sell stock options they might have been holding onto for years. But even setting aside sales of stock options, it was a record year for the captains of industry with average pay at $13.3 million, according to the survey. (whole op-ed)
The Baltimore Sun August 17, 2018 -
A report by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released on Thursday showed that, by one measure—which “includes stock options realized (in addition to salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, and long-term incentive payouts)”—CEO compensation in 2017 climbed 17.9 percent over 2016, and that the average CEO of the 350 largest companies in the United States made $18.9 million. By another measure the EPI looked at, which “tracks the value of stock options at the time they are granted,” the average CEO compensation rose to a paltry $13.3 million, up from $13 million in 2016. And in May, the AP—using different methodology—found that the median compensation of 339 executives was $11.7 million. (whole story)
Splinter News August 17, 2018 -
Last fall, as the GOP and the Trump administration worked overtime to sell the American public on its package of tax cuts, Kevin Hassett, chair of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, made a bold prediction: The average American household would see their annual income increase by $4,000-$9,000 due to the legislation’s business tax cuts. Hassett also said he expected to see “an immediate jump in wage growth.” And while most in the GOP were hesitant to go quite as far as Hassett, the promise that corporate tax cuts would boost worker pay was a central selling point of the plan. Most economists were skeptical of this promise. So far, however, the promised wage growth has yet to materialize for most Americans. But according to a new report released this morning by Lawrence Misheland Jessica Schieder of the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, there’s one group of Americans who got a big raise in 2017: CEOs of large American firms. (whole story)
Pacific Standard August 17, 2018 -
A new study on CEO compensation may reveal more about the U.S. economy than just growing pay disparity. The leaders of the country’s 350 largest public companies earned 312 times more than their typical employee in 2017. On average, CEOs made $18.9 million, a 17.6 percent increase from a year before, while workers’ salaries remained mostly flat, according to a report by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute released Thursday. (whole story)
Inc. August 17, 2018 -
The U.S. economy is doing fairly well, on paper at least–unemployment is down to around 3.9% from around 4.4% last year, and the labor forceis steadily ballooning. But all this masks a more pernicious trend: Pay, for regular workers, is still stagnant. From 2016 to 2017, compensation for typical workers rose just 0.3% (with inflation, that means pretty much not at all) and many people are struggling to access basic needs like housing and food. But what about for non-regular workers? According to a new reportfrom the nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute, compensation for the average CEO of the top 350 firms in the U.S. grew by 17.6% in 2017. Their average take-home salary: $18.9 million. (whole story)
Fast Company August 17, 2018 -
Compensation for America’s top executives grew 17 percent in 2017 as real wages for workers declined, according to a study released Thursday. Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated promises to raise the salaries of average Americans, chief executives earned 312 times more than the average employee during his first year in office, according to a new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). (whole story)
Newsweek August 17, 2018 -
Some of what Trump says is true (inflation is indeed low), though most of it is false, which is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from him. But here’s our second perspective on the economy, from a new report by Lawrence Mishel and Jessica Schieder of the Economic Policy Institute: In 2017 the average CEO of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. received $18.9 million in compensation, a 17.6 percent increase over 2016. The typical worker’s compensation remained flat, rising a mere 0.3 percent. The 2017 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of 312-to-1 was far greater than the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and more than five times greater than the 58-to-1 ratio in 1989 (although it was lower than the peak ratio of 344-to-1, reached in 2000). The gap between the compensation of CEOs and other very-high-wage earners is also substantial, with the CEOs in large firms earning 5.5 times as much as the average earner in the top 0.1 percent. So to sum up: CEOs are making absolutely stunning amounts of money, while workers’ wages are going nowhere. In the last year, wages rose by 2.7 percent while inflation was 2.9 percent, meaning that the average person has nothing more in their pocket than they did a year ago. In fact, wages for most workers have been essentially stagnant for decades.
The Washington Post August 17, 2018 -
In 2017, ordinary workers became no more valuable to our society than they were the year before. Normally, eight years into an expansion — with unemployment nearing record lows — one would expect to see America’s laborers enjoying hefty wage growth. But despite these favorable conditions, our nation’s working stiffs failed to make themselves more useful to their fellow citizens last year. Thus, the market — the impartial, infallible indicator of a person’s objective worth — declined to provide ordinary Americans with bigger paychecks.
Fortunately for all of us, America’s elite CEOs decided to pick up the slack. In 2017, the chief executives of the 350 largest U.S. economies contributed a whopping 17.6 percent more to our collective well-being than they did in 2016 — and thus, collected an average raise of $3.3 million, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute. Thanks to their heroic efforts, the typical elite CEO in the U.S. now deserves 312 times as much of our collective appreciation as his (or, rarely, her) typical employee.
New York Magazine August 17, 2018 -
The compensation for CEOs at the US’s biggest public companies continued to surge in 2017, according to a new report, but the workers in those same industries are seeing meager gains. A study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank focused on labor issues, found that total compensation for CEOs at the 350 largest publicly traded companies in the US rose to $18.9 million in 2017, up 17.6% from the year before. (whole story)
Business Insider August 17, 2018