State’s CEOs paid 190 times average rank-and-file worker

AFL-CIO’s 2016 Executive PayWatch highlights corporate pay inequality

SEATTLE (May 18, 2016) — CEO pay for major companies in Washington state continues to soar as income inequality and outsourcing of good-paying American jobs increases. Outsourcing has become a hot presidential election topic with candidates calling out corporations who say they need to save money by sending jobs overseas.

Meanwhile, according to the new AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, the average Washington CEO of companies listed in the S&P 500 made more than $10 million per year in 2015 — 190 times more money than the average rank-and-file worker.

The Executive PayWatch website, the most comprehensive searchable online database tracking CEO pay, showed that in 2015, the average production and nonsupervisory Washington worker earned approximately $53,000 per year, a wage that when adjusted for inflation, has remained stagnant for decades.

“These numbers demonstrate the unacceptable levels of income inequality that exist here in Washington and around the country,” said Jeff Johnson, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “This is a disgrace and we must stop Wall Street CEOs from continuing to profit on the backs of working people. We need to focus on raising wages for all, creating and keeping good jobs here and reversing these unfair and unjust trends.”