Wage Inequality: Why The American Dream Is More of A Fantasy
by PRWatch.org on Sep 17, 2013 | Views: 259 | Score: 0
| CEO (in thousands) | Production/Nonsupervisory Workers (in thousands) | |
| 1965 | 791 | 38.5 |
| 1978 | 1413 | 47.6 |
| 1989 | 2631 | 44 |
| 1995 | 5570 | 43.6 |
| 2000 | 19482 | 45.9 |
| 2008 | 17919 | 48.4 |
| 2011 | 12141 | 50.3 |
Average Annual Compensation, 1965-2011
2011 US Dollars
Sources:
, epi.org

In the last thirty years, the average annual compensation of CEOs working at the top 350 publicly owned firms increased by 1435%, from $791,000 in 1965, to over $12 million in 2011. During this same period, wages have likewise increased for everyday workers, from $38,500 to $50,300. This constitutes a wage increase of merely 30%, 1/47th the increase of CEOs.