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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Globalization : Labor : Political-Economy |
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CEO Pay/Worker Pay Ratio Reaches 301-to-1 |
Current rating: 0 |
by United for a Fair Economy
(No verified email address) |
15 Apr 2004
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Average Worker Takes Home $517 a Week; Average CEO $155,769 a Week
If the minimum wage had increased as quickly as CEO pay since 1990, it would today be $15.71 per hour, more than three times the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. |
BOSTON - April 14 - After declining for the last two years, the gap in pay between average workers and large company CEOs surpassed 300-to-1 in 2003. In 2002, the ratio stood at 282-to-1. In 1982, it was just 42-to-1.
According to Business Week's 54th Annual Executive Compensation Survey, published this week, the average large company CEO received compensation totaling $8.1 million in 2003, up 9.1% from the previous year. Business Week's survey covers the 365 largest companies that have reported their executive pay to date.
From 1990 to 2003:
CEO pay rose 313%
The S&P 500 rose 242%
Corporate profits rose 128%
Average worker pay rose 49%
Inflation rose 41%
The average production worker fared less well in 2003. Their annual pay was $26,899 in 2003, up just 2.1% from 2002 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average worker took home $517 in their weekly paycheck in 2003; the average large company CEO took home $155,769 in their weekly pay.
If the minimum wage had increased as quickly as CEO pay since 1990, it would today be $15.71 per hour, more than three times the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.
"While workers are increasingly anxious about their job security, and how they will pay the rising costs of everything from health insurance to housing, from college to gasoline, corporate executives continue to distance themselves from the cares and worries of those they lead. It sends a poor message to demand cost cutting from the factory floor, while costs in the executive suite are left to soar,"said Scott Klinger, spokesperson for United for a Fair Economy, an independent national non-profit that raises awareness of growing economic inequality.
"Boards remain far too clubby in the post-Enron world. We need some new board members who can say 'no' to executive pay packages that widen the chasm among those who collectively create shareholder value,"said Klinger. |
See also:
http://www.stw.org/
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This work is in the public domain |
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While Corporations and the Wealthy Benefit from Huge Tax Cuts Poor Families Still Struggle |
by Children's Defense Fund
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Apr 2004
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WASHINGTON - April 14 - Huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans have robbed the federal government of much needed revenue that could help fund programs for children, the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) said today. According to statistics released by CDF, the lost revenue could provide enough funds in 2004 to pay for Head Start for all eligible children, provide comprehensive health insurance for the nation's more than nine million uninsured children, and ensure that all poor families have affordable housing.
The Bush Administration's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 heavily favored wealthy Americans while offering little or nothing to working families. In 2004, the average millionaire can expect to receive a tax cut of over $100,000. By 2010 when the tax cuts are fully implemented, the richest 1 percent of Americans will have received 52 percent of the benefits from the tax cuts, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Corporations are also reaping huge benefits from the new tax cuts. Business tax cuts alone amounted to $44.3 billion in fiscal year 2002 and are projected to be $64 billion in FY 2004. These tax breaks, combined with the increased use of tax loopholes, shelters, and subsidies, have resulted in corporate tax levels that are among the lowest seen in the last 70 years. According to a recent GAO report, between 1996 and 2000, 61 percent of American corporations paid no income taxes at all, and in 2000, 94 percent paid less than 5 percent of their total income in taxes. The revenue lost as a result of the business tax cuts in 2002 would have provided enough income to allow all of the nation's 5.4 million poor families with children to escape from poverty that year.
At the same time that the Administration pursued generous tax cuts for the wealthy?which were not paid for in the budget?it failed to aid 12 million American children by speeding up the refundability of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). It would also have provided the average poor family of three with an additional $193. The Administration fought for more tax breaks for millionaires, while denying poor families this modest amount that would have cost roughly 1 percent of the 2003 tax bill.
"This April 15th should serve to remind us that the Administration is favoring corporations and the wealthy rather than aiding the millions of families with children who are the backbone of this nation, many of whom are struggling to stay afloat," said Deborah Cutler-Ortiz, Director of the Family Income Division at the Children's Defense Fund.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/ |
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Re: CEO Pay/Worker Pay Ratio Reaches 301-to-1 |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 1
15 Apr 2004
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Thanks for pointing this out. As an employer, I have always felt strongly that my employees were being overcompensated. This gives me the evidence I need.
Jack |
