It pays to run a big company. Even in 1965, CEOs of the largest U.S. firms were pulling in an average of $902,000 a year (in 2017 dollars) and, since then, their compensation has skyrocketed. According to a new report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute(EPI), CEO pay peaked in 2000 at $21 million a year (in 2017 dollars). In 2017, CEOs in America’s largest firms made an average of $18.9 million in compensation, or 312 times the annual average pay of the typical worker. That’s “5.5 times as much as the average earner in the top 0.1 percent,” the report notes. (whole story)
CNBC
August 21, 2018
Executive compensation has soared about 1,000 percent since 1978, while real wages for most Americans are up about 11 percent, according to an Aug. 16 report from the Economic Policy Institute. Putting a number to that differential was expected to cause outraged headlines and trigger criticism from investors and consumers on social media. Human resource chiefs, meanwhile, worried the disclosures would sow discontent among the rank and file, particularly those paid even less than the median.
Bloomberg
August 21, 2018
in contrast, although Pittsburgh has multiple universities, it hasn’t been able to hold onto these graduates, the study noted. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, there is a lot of income inequality even within coastal states like Connecticut, Florida and New York.
CBS Moneywatch
August 21, 2018
Along with this drop in personal income has come an increase in income inequality. At the end of July, the Economic Policy Institute produced a report that showed an income divide that had come to resemble the Cumberland Gap. From WVXU: Income for the wealthiest one percent of earners in Kentucky was more than $719,012 in 2015, compared to an average income of almost $39,990 for all other Kentuckians. The report from the Economic Policy Institute shows from 2009 to 2015 the top one percent income grew 23.2 percent while everyone else’s income grew only 7.2 percent. Ashley Spalding is a senior policy analyst with the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. “The growth in income inequality is the result of policy decisions that have reduced union density and eroded the value of the minimum wage and other baseline labor standards,” Spalding said.
Esquire
August 21, 2018
f the largest publicly traded U.S. companies grew by 17.6 percent to $18.9 million last year, according to a report released on Aug. 16 by the liberal think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI). From 2009 to 2017, average pay for the nation’s top CEOs jumped by 72 percent, according to the report. The ratio of these CEO’s compensation to the pay of their typical employee rose to 312-to-1—far greater than the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and more than five times greater than the 58-to-1 ratio in 1989, the analysis said. (whole story)
Society for Human Resource Management
August 21, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, is out with its annual report on CEO pay. In order to make the problem seem as large as possible, the authors focus on 350 of the largest companies in the U.S., finding those megacompanies pay their CEOs an average of $18.9 million in 2017, or 312 times as much as the average workers at those companies. The idea is that such a huge disparity will spur you to action to fight this injustice to workers. But a little simple math reveals that the issue of CEO pay is a trivial one, not worth the time of policy makers interested in worker welfare. (whole column)
Forbes
August 21, 2018
2017 was a good year for top U.S. executives, who saw their average annual pay increase to $18.9 million, up nearly 18 percent from 2016. U.S. workers, however, only saw an average annual pay increase of 0.3 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute published Thursday. (whole story)
The Daily Caller
August 21, 2018
US inequality statistics have been so startling in recent years that they have almost ceased to shock — but they could undergird America’s next financial crisis. That’s because consumers’ increasing reliance on debt in an environment of stagnant wages is leaving more American families financially insecure, to the point where even minor setbacks can be devastating. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington, highlights just how startling the income gap has become. (whole story)
Market Insider
August 20, 2018
A new report from the Economic Policy Institute calls attention to the hardy perennial of how much America’s corporate titans make: bosses of the top 350 firms made an average of $18.9m in 2017. That’s a ratio of 312-1 over the median worker in their industries. Big bucks to be sure. And a big change since 1965, when the ratio was just 20-1. But what does it mean? And if there’s a problem, what is it, exactly? (whole column)
The Guardian
August 20, 2018
In the world of CEO compensation, the concept of “pay for performance” is dogma: Chief executives supposedly need those high potential payouts — average CEO compensation, including realized stock options, rose to $18.9 million last year, according to an analysis released Thursday by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute — to ensure they have the same goals as investors, to keep them from jumping ship and to motivate them to spend all those hours jet-setting around the globe managing their sprawling domains. When Tesla announced a new pay package that would tie CEO Elon Musk’s compensation entirely to performance metrics, the company explained, “This ensures that Elon will continue to lead Tesla’s management over the long-term.” As one University of Chicago professor wrote in a 2013 paper, “The market for talent puts pressure on boards to reward their top people at competitive pay levels in order to both attract and retain them.”
The Washington Post
August 20, 2018