265 paychecks
In the least surprising news of the day:
It pays to be a chief executive officer in the United States, according to a new report revealing that the pay gap between U.S. CEOs and their employees is larger than in any other country.
The report may be new, but I’m pretty sure the finding is not. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it before, more than once, because we’ve been arranging things this way for a long time.
The U.S. CEOs of the top publicly traded companies came in first on Bloomberg’s 2017 ranking of Global CEO Pay-to-Average Income ratio. According to the analysis, CEOs in the U.S. averaged $14.3 million in annual pay, making 265 times more than their average worker.
The analysis examined benchmark stock indexes across 22 nations. China and Norway ranked at the bottom of the list. Norway had the smallest pay gap with CEOs making $1.28 million compared to the income of its average worker at $64,346, an income “roughly equal to the income generated by 20 people,” according to Bloomberg.
This is not a stat to be proud of.
And with the new tax bill, and any subsequent cuts in benefits, that gap is likely to get larger.
Ophelia, you’re correct, the finding is not new, particularly in the English speaking countries which have been influenced by US business practice. When I was at business school, 35 years ago the data indicated very similar ratios. Many CEOs are essentially rentiers, ie parasites.