A new report says that the pay gap difference between a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a median employee grew in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing relief efforts. The average company CEO made 299 times the average worker’s salary last year.
According to AFL-CIO’s annual Executive Paywatch report, quoted by CNN, executives received $15.5 million in total compensation on average. This marked an increase of more than $260,000 per year over the past decade.
And during the same time, the average production and nonsupervisory worker in 2020 earned $43,512, up just $957 a year over the past decade, CNN quoted the report.
During the pandemic, both the average compensation and pay ratios grew in 2020 during the pandemic. While the executives’ average total compensation grew more than $700,000 last year, the CEO-to-worker pay ratios increased from 264:1 in 2019.
“This is consistent with what we’ve been seeing year to year,” Liz Schuler, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, said in a press conference.
“Inequality, the imbalance in our economy, is clear by this report that the pay of CEOs and working people continues to be a major problem in this country,” she added.
According to CNN, in 2020 Chad Richison of Paycom was the highest-compensated CEO. He received more than $200 million in salary and stock awards that vest over time.
This gap between the CEO and worker pay comes in the backdrop of a year of economic turmoil. Last month, the US economy added 850,000 jobs.
Since February 2020, the labour market is down 6.8 million jobs and 6.2 million people didn’t work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the study reported.
Currently, the United States is in a tussle with record-breaking inflation. The consumer price index, a key inflation measure, rose 0.9% in June. Over the past year, prices were up 5.4%, the biggest jump in annual inflation in nearly 13 years. Like growth and inflation, the stock market, too, is hitting record-breaking highs.
Per the report, the biggest banks of Wall Street are also earning billions.
