CEO compensation, CEO-to-worker compensation ratio, and stock prices (2021$), selected years, 1965–2021
| CEO annual compensation (thousands) | Private-sector production/nonsupervisory workers annual compensation | Stock market (indexed to 2021$) | CEO-to-worker compensation ratio | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year(s) | Realized | Granted | All private-sector workers | Workers in the firms’ industries* | S&P 500 | Dow Jones | Realized | Granted |
| 1965 | $995 | $758 | $45.2 | NA | 664 | 6,856 | 20.4 | 14.9 |
| 1973 | $1,300 | $990 | $53.1 | NA | 587 | 5,051 | 22.7 | 16.6 |
| 1978 | $1,781 | $1,356 | $54.3 | NA | 367 | 3,138 | 30.3 | 22.3 |
| 1989 | $3,317 | $2,526 | $51.7 | NA | 683 | 5,311 | 59.3 | 43.6 |
| 1995 | $6,435 | $7,149 | $51.7 | $57.1 | 959 | 7,968 | 118.8 | 131.6 |
| 2000 | $23,219 | $23,242 | $54.6 | $59.8 | 2,252 | 16,919 | 371.7 | 392.9 |
| 2007 | $20,696 | $15,459 | $56.8 | $63.2 | 1,935 | 17,262 | 334.6 | 246.0 |
| 2009 | $10,995 | $11,367 | $59.0 | $65.1 | 1,200 | 11,248 | 178.3 | 176.6 |
| 2020 | $25,008 | $14,195 | $63.8 | $70.4 | 3,368 | 28,146 | 365.6 | 208.6 |
| Projected 2021 | $27,780 | $15,592 | $64.1 | $70.4 | 4,273 | 34,055 | 398.8 | 236.0 |
| 2020 FH | $24,620 | $14,602 | $63.8 | $71.6 | 3,368 | 28,146 | 354.0 | 207.2 |
| 2021 FH | $27,349 | $16,039 | $64.1 | $70.4 | 4,273 | 34,055 | 387.2 | 234.6 |
| Percent change | Change in ratio | |||||||
| 1965–1978 | 78.9% | 78.9% | 20.0% | NA | -44.6% | -54.2% | 10.0 | 7.3 |
| 1978–2000 | 1,204.0% | 1,614.5% | 0.6% | NA | 513.0% | 439.1% | 341.3 | 370.6 |
| 2000–2007 | -10.9% | -33.5% | 4.1% | 5.5% | -14.1% | 2.0% | -37.0 | -146.8 |
| 2007–2009 | -46.9% | -26.5% | 3.9% | 3.1% | -38.0% | -34.8% | -156.4 | -69.5 |
| 2009–2021 | 152.7% | 37.2% | 8.6% | 8.1% | 256.1% | 202.8% | 220.5 | 59.4 |
| 2007–2021 | 34.2% | 0.9% | 12.8% | 11.5% | 120.8% | 97.3% | 64.2 | -10.0 |
| 1978–2021 | 1,460.2% | 1,050.2% | 18.1% | NA | 1,063.4% | 985.2% | 368.5 | 213.7 |
| 2020–2021 | 11.1% | 9.8% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 26.9% | 21.0% | 33.2 | 27.4 |
* Average annual compensation of the workers in the key industry of the firms in the sample.
Notes: Average annual compensation for CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales is measured in two ways. Both include salary, bonus, and long-term incentive payouts, but the “granted” measure includes the value of stock options and stock awards when they were granted, whereas the “realized” measure captures the value of stock-related components that accrues after options or stock awards are granted by including “stock options exercised” and “vested stock awards.” FH = First half. CEO-to-worker compensation ratios are based on averaging specific firm ratios in samples and not the ratio of averages of CEO and worker compensation. Ratios prior to 1992 are constructed as described in the CEO pay series methodology (Sabadish and Mishel 2013).
Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database, the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics data series, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis NIPA tables.
This chart appears in:
Previous chart: « CEOs make 399 times as much as typical workers: CEO-to-worker compensation ratio, 1965–2021
Next chart: CEO-to-top-0.1% and college-to-high-school wage ratios, selected years, 1979–2020 »