Median CEO pay packages hit the 10.5 million mark in 2013…
Propelled by a soaring stock market, the median pay package for a CEO rose above eight figures for the first time last year. The head of a typical large public company earned a record $10.5 million, an increase of 8.8 percent from $9.6 million in 2012, according to an Associated Press/Equilar pay study.
Last year was the fourth straight that CEO compensation rose following a decline during the Great Recession. The median CEO pay package climbed more than 50 percent over that stretch. A chief executive now makes about 257 times the average worker’s salary, up sharply from 181 times in 2009.
These “brainiacs” must really be worth it…
From 1978 to 2011, CEO compensation increased more than 725 percent, a rise substantially greater than stock market growth and the painfully slow 5.7 percent growth in worker compensation over the same period.
Last year was a record breaking year for corporate profits. After taxes, it was $1.68 trillion.
But, hard work hasn’t really paid off for most workers…
EPI labor economists looked at wage trends in all income levels and found that Americans earning at or below 60 percent of the distribution of wages in the U.S. — a vast majority of working Americans — saw no gains in their wages between 2000 and 2012. At the same time their productivity increased nearly 25 percent.
And the quality and wages of new jobs has declined that many workers must supplement their income by assistance…
Low-wage, part-time jobs in the retail and service sectors have made up the bulk of job growth since the recession. Though these low wages help businesses reduce their labor costs, taxpayers usually pick up the slack; workers are increasingly turning to public benefits like food stamps and Medicaid to make ends meet.
Even with low labor costs, many businesses are fighting a minimum wage increase that could lessen the persistent gap between productivity and compensation. Studies show that the minimum wage, if it had kept pace with productivity gains over the past 30 years, would have been $21.72 last year – a far cry from President Obama’s recent proposal of $10.
Aside from the new CEO pay record; these are pretty well known common facts. Just a reminder if you didn’t have anything else to be depressed about today. What I am trying to understand is how ‘merica can have a successful consumer based economy if these conditions persist. I just predict a lot of debt for the declining middle class.
As the oligarchy accumulates more wealth it is also forcing austerity on the 99% by not lending money to them. (They are investing their wealth in “emerging markets” overseas.) Debt in our middle class has actually been declining. Not so with the young who have gotten education loans and can now look forward to a life of hard work and serfdom. The good news is that our current situation is quickly coming to a conclusion. The end is near. There is light at the end of the tunnel.