Bogotá — The average compensation for CEOs that make up the S&P 500 reached US$16.7 million in 2022, while the average American worker earned US$61,900 during the same period, according to research by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The report shows that the gap between the salaries of chief executive officers and workers across the United States continues to widen.
Over the last 10 years, S&P 500 CEOs’ median salary has increased by more than US$5 million, compared to a US$15,460 increase for average American workers. Despite the S&P 500 dropping by nearly 18% in 2022, the average CEO pay package only decreased by half that figure.
Wall Street’s top CEOs’ average salaries were the second-highest in history in 2022, following 2021′s record. According to the report, “in 2022, the average ratio of CEO pay to worker pay was 272 to 1 for companies in the S&P 500 Index.” Likewise, real hourly wages for American workers fell by -1.6% in 2022 for the second consecutive year, after adjusting for inflation.
According to the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in the U.S. in July after adding 187,000 jobs, while wages increased at a solid pace.
Among the different components that make up CEOs’ salaries at S&P 500 firms, the ones that contributed the most were restricted stocks (US$9.9 million), non-stock-based incentives (US$2.6 million), and stock options (US$2.1 million). The components with the least impact on this average were retirement plans, estimated at US$94,334.
In terms of sectors, the highest average CEO compensation in 2022 was recorded in communication services, discretionary consumer companies, consumer staples, energy, and finance. Healthcare, industrials, information technology, materials, real estate, and utilities ranked lower. The average CEO-to-worker pay ratio was also the highest in the communication services sector.
The list of the highest-paid CEOs in 2022 within S&P 500 firms is led by:
- Sundar Pichai (Alphabet Inc.): US$225.985 million
- Michael Rapino (LYV Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.): US$139.005 million
- Safra Catz (Oracle Corporation): US$138.192 million
- Tim Cook (Apple Inc.): US$99.420 million
- Peter Zaffino (American International Group, Inc.): US$75.314 million
- Hock Tan (Broadcom Inc.): US$60.606 million
- Satya Nadella (Microsoft Corporation): US$54.946 million
- Vicente Reynal (Ingersoll Rand Inc.): US$54.505 million
- Reed Hastings (Netflix, Inc.): US$51.073 million
- Hamid Moghadam (Prologis, Inc.): US$48.152 million
- Stephen Squeri (American Express Company): US$48.029 million
- James Gorman (Morgan Stanley): US$39.398 million
- David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.): US$39.288 million
- William McDermott (ServiceNow, Inc.): US$38.502 million
- Mark Begor (Equifax Inc.): US$37.255 million
- Darren Woods (Exxon Mobil Corporation): US$35.909 million
- David Simon (Simon Property Group, Inc.): US$35.667 million
- James Dimon (JPMorgan Chase & Co.): US$34.848 million
- Julie Sweet (Accenture Plc): US$33.701 million
- Albert Bourla (Pfizer Inc.): US$33.017 million
