Media clips
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Compensation for chief executive officers at top corporations increased by 17.6 percent in 2017, according to a report by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. On average, CEOs at the top 350 companies in the U.S. received $18.9 million last year, a figure that includes stock options, bonuses, and long-term incentive payouts. CEO pay has grown even faster than stocks and corporate profits as a whole, the analysis says. The CEO-to-worker compensation ratio in 2017 was 312:1, EPI said, compared to 58:1 as recently as 1989. It reached its peak imbalance in 2000 at 344:1. The report suggests Congress increase income and corporate tax rates, among other changes.
Politico Pro August 17, 2018 -
A new report out today shows the compensation for CEOs increased on average by 17.6 percent over 2016, while a typical employee’s pay remained stagnant. One of the study’s authors joins us to discuss the significance of the gap between employees and executives, and what he thinks needs to change.
Wisconsin Public Radio August 17, 2018 -
Los altos ejecutivos de las empresas más grandes de Estados Unidos ganan alrededor de 312 veces más que los trabajadores promedio, según un nuevo informe del Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Los directores generales de las 350 empresas más grandes del país obtuvieron un salario promedio de 18.9 millones de dólares en 2017, un fuerte aumento del 17% con respecto al año anterior. Estas estimaciones incluyen sueldos, bonificaciones, subsidios de acciones restringidas, acciones de la compañía en efectivo y otras formas de compensación para los directores ejecutivos de esas empresas. (whole story)
Univision August 17, 2018 -
The top executives of the biggest companies in the U.S. make about 312 times more than their workers, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). That estimate is up from 270 times in 2016. Looking at CEO compensation across 350 publicly held companies, co-authors Larry Mishel and Jessica Schneider found that the average CEO in 2017 received $18.9 million in compensation. (whole story)
Yahoo News August 17, 2018 -
Wage slaves? Not so much, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (emphasis ours): This report looks at trends in chief executive officer (C.E.O.) compensation, using two different measures. The first measure includes stock options realized (in addition to salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, and long-term incentive payouts). By this measure, in 2017 the average C.E.O. 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 C.E.O.-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 C.E.O.s and other very-high-wage earners is also substantial, with the C.E.O.s in large firms earning 5.5 times as much as the average earner in the top 0.1 percent. (report cited throughout)
Vanity Fair August 17, 2018 -
As progressives have worked to win the fight for a $15 federal minimum wage, CEO pay has skyrocketed even further in the past year—while business leaders and Republicans have claimed that raising wages for workers would be prohibitively expensive. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a new report Thursday showing how executive compensation surged during President Donald Trump’s first year in office —as Republicans were pitching their tax plan with promises that the proposal would offer benefits and savings to middle-class and working Americans across the country. Looking at CEO pay based on stock options, salary, bonuses, and other forms of payment, EPI found that the average top executive at the 350 largest U.S. firms walked away with between $13.3 and $18.9 million last year. The previous year, those same CEOs made between $13 and $17.6 million. (whole story)
Common Dreams August 17, 2018 -
For every dollar made by the average Facebook employee, Mark Zuckerberg earned $37 in 2017. As far as CEO pay goes, that’s nothing. The CEOs of America’s top 350 publicly held companies earned an average of $18.9 million in wages, bonuses, and stock options last year, or 312 times more than their workers, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute. Per the Guardian, such an “astronomical gap” hasn’t been seen since the eve of the 2007 financial crisis. The 17.6% increase in average CEO pay, compared to 0.3% for workers, had a lot to do with a booming stock market, but it’s also part of a larger trend. Since 2009, average CEO pay has risen 72%, compared to about 2% for workers, who now make $54,600 on average. “It speaks to the degree the economic recovery is unbalanced,” report co-author Larry Mishel tells the Washington Post, which describes CEO-to-worker pay ratios of 3,101-to-1 for McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook and 1,188-to-1 for Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. “Had there not been the redistribution upward … the wages of the bottom 90% could have grown twice as fast as it actually did,” Mishel tells the Guardian. Per the Post, 2018 figures could be even worse for workers given the tax package signed into law last fall; critics say it will make the rich richer, though Republican backers claim it will increase wages across the board.
Newser August 17, 2018 -
Congratulations to Amazon kingpin Jeff Bezos for amassing a personal wealth of $154 billion dollars, more than the GDP of Guatemala! According to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, he is among the 350 CEOs who earned, on average, 312 times more than their employees last year. While Bezos is now officially the richest man in the world, he has been doing pretty great for awhile: In 2017 he took home $1.7 million, or 59 times an average Amazon worker’s pay. McDonald CEO Steve Easterbrook made 3,101 times his average worker, earning $21.7 million. Must be nice. (whole story)
Jezebel August 17, 2018 -
It was good to be a CEO in 2017. Less so for the typical worker at one of the nation’s largest 350 publicly traded companies. Average compensation for CEOs rose by 17.6 percent to $18.9 million last year – more than 58 times the 0.3 percent increase in pay that typical workers in those industries received, according to a new report. The latest numbers mean CEOs earned $312 for every $1 earned by average workers, according to the analysis by Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. (whole story)
The Daily Mail August 17, 2018 -
It’s certainly true that Donald Trump, despite grumbling about the Obama-era reform, never tried to halt it. That is why the average 312-to-one ratio cited by the Economic Policy Institute, which crunched the US numbers, looks statistically solid. The missing part, however, is evidence that transparency produces anything resembling restraint. The mythical firm of Ratchet, Ratchet & Bingo – Warren Buffett’s name for tame compensation consultants who bid up boardroom pay – looks to be alive and well in the US and as shameless as ever.
The Guardian August 17, 2018