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Chief executive officers at the largest U.S. companies averaged $14.7 million in compensation in 2021, the sixth consecutive year of record pay for corporate leaders.
Pay packets grew by an average of 12 percent above 2020 levels.
The median annual paycheck was $4.1 million; the balance of the compensation was in stock, much of which has been devalued in recent weeks as the equity markets have sunk.
The compensation figures are based on data from securities filings at a fixed point in time and are unable to adjust for market moves.
The figure was reported by The Wall Street Journal after it analyzed data from more than 400 large U.S. corporations.
Shareholder returns among the businesses were up about 30 percent, thanks to the surging post-2020 economic recovery.
In 2020, the average CEO’s cash pay was $3.1 million and total compensation was worth about $13.4 million.
Nine CEOs collected more than $50 million last year, compared to seven in 2020 and one in 2016.
For the 25 chiefs paid $35 million or more, an average of 78 percent of their rewards were in stock shares and-or options, which vest over several years, meaning the person is unable to immediately cash out.
The effects of the COVID War and its aftermath are reflected in CEO’s performance-based rewards; Peter Kern, head of the Expedia travel website, made almost $300 million last year as travelers burst back out across the world.
TREND FORECAST: We have warned of the dangers of the widening income gap between workers and corporate elites in articles such as “Slavelandia: U.S. Workers Go Broke Between Paydays, CEO Salaries Hit New Highs” (5 Apr 2022) and “CEO Pay Increased 31 Percent as Real Wages Decline for Workers of Slavelandia” (26 Apr 2022).
History shows that as elites’ pay rises farther from that of workers, societies become less stable, as we noted in our Top Trend of New World Disorder.
Especially as inflation robs workers, developed nations will see more political unrest as new movements form around the idea of taxing the rich and socializing costs of healthcare and advanced education.