Further to my Waging a Living post …
The incomes of the top 20% have grown much faster than earnings of those at the middle or bottom of the income distribution. The income of the top 1% and top 0.1% have grown particularly rapidly.
From 1992 to 2005, the pay of chief executive officers of major companies rose by 186%.
The equivalent figure for median hourly wages was 7.2%, leaving the ratio of CEOs’ pay to that of the average worker at 262.
In the 1960s, the comparable figure was 24.
Are we OK with this as a society? Do we think that some people are worth not 50 times, not 100 times, but 262 times more than the average person? (Which means, of course, perhaps 400 times more than the poor sucker on the lowest end of the totem pole.)
I’m not. What about you?
[tags] waging a living, poverty, ceo pay, john koetsier [/tags]