Pay Gap Between America’s CEOs And Workers Widens More

July 23, 2021

The AFL-CIO’s latest Executive Paywatch report is based on an examination of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation at S&P 500 companies in 2020, and it reveals that executives were paid 299 times the average worker’s salary last year.

As the report states, the CEO of an S&P 500 company received, on average, $15.5 million in total compensation in 2020. During a painstaking year of unspeakable loss and economic turmoil, where millions of working people lost their jobs through no fault of their own, this year’s report shows an S&P 500 CEO’s pay has increased, on average, by more than $700,000.

“Working people bore the brunt of COVID-19 and its impact on the U.S. economy. Last year, the unemployment rate peaked at 14.7% in April, with a record 41 million layoffs in the United States. While many of those jobs have come back, there was a net loss of 9 million jobs in 2020,” says AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler. 

Note: Only one Vermont CEO is listed in the report, and it’s the CEO of Casella. 

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