The 50-100 Pay Gap

The Great Pay Disparity

A look at the median pay of the average American worker compared with the salary and compensation of the nation’s top CEOs.

Published

September 6, 2021

Capital & Main

Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

While millions of Americans were laid off last year due to the pandemic, “CEOs of S&P 500 companies received, on average, $15.5 million in total compensation” and earned 299 times more than their average employee, according to the AFL-CIO’s Executive Paywatch report released this summer. Another analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that CEO pay increased nearly 16% in 2020 compared with the average worker, who saw only a 1.8% increase in compensation.

The pay gap between the average American worker and a CEO is quite startling considering the fight on Capitol Hill about increasing the minimum wage. As the average worker struggles to bounce back from a crippling pandemic, unemployment benefits that sustained many families are ending as well as the moratorium on evictions. In the meantime, the nation’s top CEOs received a pay increase of more than $700,000, on average.

The disparity is palpable.

Check out our slideshow below of the 2020 average salaries of American workers and the compensation of CEOs.

Co-published by Patch