America's CEOs Make 271 Times the Annual Average Pay of the Typical Worker

By Dominic Rushe, Guardian UK

21 July 17

Report by Economic Policy Institute shows slight dip over past three years but ratio is still ‘light years’ beyond that of previous decades

he CEOs of America’s largest firms made an average of $15.6m in compensation last year, or 271 times the annual average pay of the typical worker, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) looked at compensation, including share options and other benefits, for the top bosses of the largest 350 companies in the US in 2016.

Lawrence Mishel, EPI president and co-author of the report, said he was surprised to see a small dip in pay this year. The 2016 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of 271-to-1 is down from 299-to-1 in 2014 and 286-to-1 in 2015. But the report points out it is still “light years beyond the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and the 59-to-1 ratio in 1989”.

“I have used a lot of Kleenex, it was hard writing this report,” said Mishel. He said the dip may be down to CEOs being compensated in other ways or to them holding off on cashing in stock options in the hope that the Trump administration will enact promised tax changes that will benefit high earners.

Donald Trump has stocked his cabinet with billionaires and consistently cited their wealth as one of their core qualifications. “I love all people, rich or poor. But in those particular positions, I just don’t want a poor person,” Trump said earlier this year following criticism for appointments including the billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary and the former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn as chief economic adviser.

Mishel said he felt CEOs would not “feel constrained” by the Trump administration’s attitude to CEO pay and that he expected to see wages rose again soon.

“CEO pay growth has been outstripping the average worker’s for 30 or 40 years. Last year we saw more modest compensation growth but I fully expect CEO compensation to escalate in the near future,” said Mishel. Asked why, he said: “History and greed.”