Obscene: Average American Worker Pulls in 37k, While Your Typical Big Company CEO Rakes in $12.4 Million

AlterNet
and
 Michael Arria
May 17, 2016

According to a new AFL-CIO study on corporate salaries, CEOs made 335 times more than the average employee salary last year.

The report, which identifies the average worker salary as $36,875, puts big company CEOS at approximately $12,400,000 annually.

It cites Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam who made almost 500 times more than the average Verizon worker in 2015. A number of Verizon employees have been on strike for over a month now, in the largest U.S. work stoppage since 2011, and McAdam's astronomical salary is frequently cited on the picket lines.

In a statement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that, "The income inequality that exists in this country is a disgrace."

The report also points out that the highest paid CEOs come from companies with the largest offshore, untaxed profits, like Apple and Microsoft. Companies often justify such moves by claiming the United States has a high corporate income tax rate but, in actuality, it's lower than many developed countries.

You can read the entire study at the AFL-CIO's website.

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

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