Average CEO Makes 361 Times What Rank-and-Filers Pull In

The average CEO of an S&P 500 Index company made $13.94 million in 2017—361 times more than the average rank-and-file worker, according to figures released May 22 by the AFL-CIO.

The average production and nonsupervisory worker earned $38,613 per year in 2017, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told reporters, citing figures from the AFL-CIO’s website tracking executive pay. This includes temporary, part-time, and overseas workers as well as full-time U.S.-based employees, Shuler said.

The best way to ensure that the ratio doesn’t keep getting bigger “is through collective bargaining and unions,” she said.

Census data for 2017 put the average annual ...