The average employee at an S&P 500 company would need about 300 years to match what the firm’s CEO made last year, with a chief executive’s average earnings estimated at $15.5 mln.
Although the COVID-19 triggered heavy turbulences in the global working sector and caused a financial impact on working people that will be felt for years, the CEOs of some tech giants and other large companies still managed to increase their pay significantly.
According to data presented by BlockArabia.com, a CEO of an S&P 500 company received, on average, $15.5 mln in total compensation in 2020, which is nearly 300 times the pay of the median worker.
The CEO-to-worker pay ratio shows how dedicated companies are to creating high-wage jobs and investing in their employees for the corporation’s long-term health. In other words, a higher pay ratio could be a sign that the company suffers from a “winner-take-all” philosophy, where executives reap the lion’s share of compensation.
According to AFL-CIO’s 2021 Executive Paywatch report, the average S&P 500 CEO saw their pay grow by more than $700,000 last year and $2.6 mln over the past decade. However, some industries and sectors saw their average CEO-to-worker pay ratio increase much more than others.
Among S&P 500 companies, the industry with the biggest worker-to-employee pay gap is the consumer discretionary sector, including giants like Amazon, Nike and McDonald’s. Statistics show that, on average, CEOs in this sector earned 741 times more than their median employees.
Far behind, the consumer staples sector ranked second, with an average pay ratio of 383:1. Communication services follow, with their CEOs earning 334 times more than median workers. The Information Technology industry and the healthcare sector follow with 315:1 and 253:1 average CEO-to-worker pay ratios, respectively.
The energy sector and utility industry were on the other side of the list, with their CEOs making 134 and 97 times more than their company’s median wage.
Aptiv, Western Digital Payments, Gap Have Highest Ratio
The 2021 Executive Paywatch report also showed that Dublin-headquartered tech giant, Aptiv Plc, has the most staggering CEO-to-worker pay ratio out of all S&P 500 companies. Statistics show the company’s CEO made 5,294 times its median employees’ pay at the end of the fiscal year 2020.
Western Digital Corporation ranked as the company with the second-biggest gap of 4,934:1. US clothing retailer Gap took third place on this infamous list with the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 3,113:1.
Statistics show that other well-known companies on the top of the list include Nike at 1,935:1, Hilton Worldwide Holdings at 1,953:1, and The Coca-Cola Company at 1,621:1. 
