CEO-to-top-0.1% and college-to-high-school wage ratios, selected years, 1979–2020
| Ratio | Log ratio | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | CEO compensation to top 0.1% wage earners | College-to-high-school wages | CEO compensation to top 0.1% wage earners | College-to-high-school wages |
| 1979 | 3.26 | 1.41 | 1.18 | 0.35 |
| 1989 | 2.63 | 1.59 | 0.97 | 0.46 |
| 1993 | 3.05 | 1.64 | 1.11 | 0.49 |
| 2000 | 7.77 | 1.75 | 2.05 | 0.56 |
| 2007 | 4.36 | 1.77 | 1.47 | 0.57 |
| 2009 | 4.61 | 1.74 | 1.53 | 0.55 |
| 2020 | 6.88 | 1.83 | 1.93 | 0.61 |
| Change | ||||
| 1979–2007 | 1.10 | 0.35 | 0.29 | 0.22 |
| 1979–2020 | 3.62 | 0.42 | 0.75 | 0.26 |
| 1989–2020 | 4.25 | 0.25 | 0.96 | 0.14 |
Notes: Wages of top 0.1% of wage earners reflect W-2 annual earnings, which includes the value of exercised stock options and vested stock awards. The college-to-high-school wage ratios compare hourly wages of workers who have a college degree with hourly wages of workers who have only a high school education.
Source: Authors’ analysis of EPI State of Working America Data Library data on top 0.1% wages in Mishel and Kandra 2021; data on wages by educational attainment from the EPI State of Working America Data Library; and data on CEO compensation from an extrapolation of Kaplan’s (2012b) CEO compensation series.
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