VOA新闻杂志2024--CEOs Earn 200 Times More Than Their Workers Last Year

CEOs Earn 200 Times More Than Their Workers Last Year

The top leaders of the biggest U.S. companies had their pay increase by about 13 percent in 2023.

Pay for workers at the same companies rose by only 4.1 percent.

Those numbers come from the Associated Press (AP) and the financial research company Equilar. They compared pay for more than half of the chiefs of a list of top companies called the S&P 500 with other average workers at the same companies.

At half of the companies that AP and Equilar studied, it would take the average worker almost 200 years to make what the chief executive officer made in one year. Company chiefs received pay gains as the U.S. economy showed strength in 2023. Over 20 of the company leaders received a pay increase of 50 percent or more.

Kelly Malafis is one of the founders² of Compensation Advisory³ Partners in New York City. The company advises businesses on what to pay their top leaders.

Malafis said companies want to reward and keep their chiefs if they have a good leader in place.

“That all combined kind of leads to increased compensation,” she said.

Some of the leaders who had high compensation compared to average workers included Ted¹ Sarandos of Netflix and Tim Cook of Apple. Cook’s pay was over $63 million. For Sarandos, his pay was almost $50 million.

Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. She said the earnings⁴ gap leads to bad feelings about the American economy.

She said many people are worried about inflation - the rising prices for things such as food, housing and gasoline. In addition, she said, “they’re feeling the pain of inflation more because they’re not seeing their wages go up enough.”

The study shows that a number of companies decided⁵ to link pay raises to company performance. As a result, the increases come in the form of stock awards that the leaders cannot sell for several years. Many of the pay packages prevent a stock sale unless the company reaches targets such as greater market value. Median stock awards went up 11 percent last year while performance increases only rose 2.7 percent.

The AP’s study included the pay of 341 executives at companies in the S&P 500. It only included leaders who had been in their positions for at least two full years.

Hock Tan of the software and semiconductor⁶ company Broadcom earned the most – about $162 million. Tan was born in Malaysia. His pay package includes a number of increases based on the company’s stock price. At the time the package was set, the company’s share price was $470, now it is well above $1000. He will get a number of bonuses if the price remains⁷ above $1,125 between October 2025 and October 2027.

Much of Broadcom’s success comes from the current interest in AI, or artificial intelligence.

Another company leader, Elon Musk⁸ of Tesla, is in the middle of a legal case related to his pay. Musk wants the company’s shareholders¹⁰ to restore a pay package that was restricted by a judge in Delaware. The company agreed to a stock package worth $2.3 billion in 2018 but it is now estimated to be worth about $45 billion.

Lack of equality

Some workers in clothing or food stores make very little money. In some cases, they do not work full time. One clothing seller in the U.S. is Ross Stores. Its leader is Barbara Rentler. She made $18.1 million last year. Some part-time workers make less than $9,000.

Malafis said many companies that are doing well do not want to have their leader leave. As a result, they pay based on what other large companies pay and do not consider the difference between the chief, or CEO, and the average worker.

Research shows that during the 40 years after the end of World War II, executives earned about 40 to 50 times more than their employees. After the 1980s, the compensation structure started to change.

Brandon Rees is a deputy director for the AFL-CIO, a group of labor¹¹ unions. Rees said, “The (current) pay ratio signals a sort of a winner-take-all culture, that companies are treating their CEOs as, you know, superstars as opposed to, team players.”

Even with the criticism, shareholders usually approve the pay deals. Most shareholder⁹ votes between 2019 and 2023 showed nearly 90 percent approval. Even if the vote shows shareholders are not happy with the executive’s pay, the company’s board can overrule the shareholders.

That is what happens in most cases. However, investors¹² rejected the pay deal for Netflix’s top leaders. That resulted in the media company making some changes. Top leaders Sarandos and Greg Peters will be paid in 2024 with stock that has restrictions¹³ about when it can be sold.

Anderson from the Institute for Policy Studies said the pay votes can be helpful because they “shine a light on” pay that is too much. However, she said, the votes do not result in big changes most of the time.

The pay study also gave information about women CEOs. In 2023, the top-paid female CEO was Lisa Su of the computer chip maker¹⁴ AMD. She received just over $30 million in compensation. Other top earners were Mary Barra of carmaker General Motors, Jane Fraser of bank group Citigroup and Kathy Warden¹⁵ of defense¹⁶ company Northrop Grumman. They earned between $23 million and $28 million in 2023.

Overall, the pay for female leaders went up 21 percent while the pay for men went up 12 percent.

Words in This Story

reward –n. something that is given in return for something that has been done or might be done

compensation –n. (business) money and other things of value that are given to a person for the work they do

gap –n. a difference between two values

wages –n. (pl.) pay that is usually by the hour

median –n. the middle number in a series from largest to smallest

ratio –n. the relationship between two values

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

3 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

4 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 semiconductor   

n.半导体

参考例句：

• In the beginning,engineers hoped to use semiconductor lasers.在开始时，工程师们希望能够利用半导体激光器。
• The main agent of the company brand semiconductor sales.本公司主要代理各品牌半导体销售。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

9 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

10 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

13 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

14 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

15 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

16 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。