CEOs made nearly 200 times what their workers got paid last year

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The typical compensation package for chief executives who run companies in the S&P 500 jumped nearly 13% last year, easily surpassing the gains for workers at a time when inflation was putting considerable pressure on Americans’ budgets. Read more.

Why this matters: The median pay package for CEOs rose to $16.3 million, according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. Meanwhile, wages and benefits netted by private-sector workers rose 4.1% through 2023.   Corporate boards feel pressure to keep upping the pay for well-performing CEOs often out of fear that they’ll walk out the door and make more at a rival organization. About two dozen CEOs in the AP’s annual survey received a pay bump of 50% or more.   There is a belief that the gap in earnings between top executives and workers plays into the overall dissatisfaction among Americans about the economy. “Most of the focus here is on inflation, which people are really feeling, but they’re feeling the pain of inflation more because they’re not seeing their wages go up enough,” said Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies.

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