The sick got sicker and the rich got richer in 2020, as the difference in pay between CEOs and median employees grew, even as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.
According to AFL-CIO's annual Executive Paywatch report, the average S&P 500 company CEO made 299 times the average worker's salary. To put that difference into perspective, the average production and nonsupervisory worker in 2020 earned $43,512 compared to executives receiving $15.5 million in total compensation on average.
Over the past decade, there has been an increase of $260,000 per year in pay for CEOs, while average workers saw growth of only $957 a year over the past decade. In 2020 alone, however, executives' average total compensation increased more than $700,000, CNN reported.
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"This is consistent with what we've been seeing year to year," Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, said in a press conference with reporters Wednesday, CNN reported. "Inequality, the imbalance in our economy, is clear by this report that the pay of CEOs and working people continues to be a major problem in this country."
Some companies with the highest-paid CEOs include Nike, Microsoft, General Electric and Netflix, to name a few. All of these companies saw an increase in business during the pandemic.
Some of the highest-disparity companies come from the consumer discretionary industry, where retailers like Amazon have a 741:1 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio.
Because of this, many have been taking their opinions to Twitter calling for an increase to minimum wages.
"The only reason we're reaching the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic is because working people stepped up," Shuler said. "We hear so many business leaders calling these workers essential and calling them heroes, but words are not enough. We have always been essential, doing the critical work to make this country hum."
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The U.S. economy has started to see a return to normal, with 850,000 jobs being added last month, showing that job growth is accelerating. But despite this, the labor market is still down 6.8 million jobs since February 2020.
America is also dealing with rapid inflation as the consumer price index grew by 0.9% in June, the largest one-month increase in 13 years. Prices over the last year have gone up 5.4%, continuing a trend that is squeezing consumers who are struggling to keep up.