The Economic Policy Institute, for instance, believes that CEOs at the 350 largest U.S. firms earned about 303 times that of their average (not median) employee in 2014, including bonuses and stock options. That’s smaller than the 376-to-1 ratio recorded at the height of the dot-com bubble, but much larger than the gap recorded in 2009, in the aftermath of the financial crisis (196 to 1). The bottom line is that the current ratio is a very big number. And while CEO pay has climbed 54 percent since the recovery began in 2009, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the earnings of the typical employee haven’t budged a bit.
The Fiscal Times
August 7, 2015
Paid sick leave is a benefit that shows the divide in American labor markets. Among the highest 10 percent of earners, 86 percent of earners have it, while among the lowest 10 percent, just 22 percent have it, said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Thirty-nine percent of service workers have paid sick leave, according to Labor Department data.
The New York Times
August 6, 2015
Advocates of the new S.E.C. rules generally emphasize the self-dealing story; the Economic Policy Institute notes that C.E.O. pay has risen even faster since 1979 than overall pay for the top 0.1 percent. And if that’s right, then you can imagine subtle regulatory changes like the new disclosure rules mattering. If boards are overpaying C.E.O.s because they are selfish or stupid, exposing their pay practices to the light of day might make some difference.
The New York Times
August 6, 2015
Fifty years ago, chief executives were paid roughly 20 times as much as their employees, compared with nearly 300 times in 2013, according to an analysis last year by the Economic Policy Institute.
The New York Times
August 6, 2015
Companies will have to share how the chief executive’s pay compares to the median pay of workers—the middle line in which half of all employees make more and half make less. At America’s biggest companies, the top boss makes more than $300 for every $1 its typical worker earns, up from a $20-to-$1 split in 1965, Economic Policy Institute data show.
The Washington Post
August 6, 2015
CEO compensation at the top 350 largest companies skyrocketed 997 percent between 1978 and 2014, compared to 10.9 percent for the typical worker, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C., think tank. The ratio between the two has increased from 30:1 in 1978 to 303:1 last year, with chief executives now making an average of $16.3 million a year, compared to $56,400 for workers.
The Boston Globe
August 6, 2015
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-affiliated think tank, found that CEOs of large public companies on average earn more than 10 times what they did 30 years ago, far outstripping the pay rise of even highly skilled workers during the period.
Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, said the proposal should help highlight what he called both the sharply increasing pay levels for executives, disparities with the rank-and-file and a growing disconnect between executive pay and performance. Further, he said, the rule’s influence should affect the wider economy by forcing pay levels down. “I used to think this was symbolic,” he said. “But the fact is, the pay of people in publicly held companies drives the executive pay market — for people in privately held firms, for universities, for hospitals.”
Los Angeles Times
August 6, 2015
Average CEO pay at the 350 largest U.S. companies by revenue surged 997 percent from 1978 to 2014, while the compensation of non-supervisory employees rose 10.9 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a research group that advocates for workers.
Bloomberg
August 6, 2015
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, calculates the current CEO-to-worker pay ratio to be in the neighborhood of 300:1; in 1978, it was 30:1.
The Atlantic
August 6, 2015
A study by the Economic Policy Institute earlier this year found that in 2014, chief executive pay was 303 times higher than the average worker’s pay. EPI president Lawrence Mishel applaud the new rule, noting that the compensation of top CEOs grew nearly 1,000 percent from 1978 to 2014 and accounted for the “doubling of the income shares of the top 1.0 percent and top 0.1 percent of U.S. households from 1979 to 2007.”
Salon
August 6, 2015