How much do you make? CEOs of America's 350 biggest companies leave the rest of us in the dust

CEO compensation surged in 2017.  (Economic Policy Institute, 8/16/2018)

Why it matters: Regardless of how it is measured, CEO pay continues to be very, very high and has grown far faster in recent decades than typical worker pay. Higher CEO pay does not reflect correspondingly higher output or better firm performance. Exorbitant CEO pay therefore means that the fruits of economic growth are not going to ordinary workers. The growth of CEO and executive compensation overall was a major factor driving the doubling of the income shares of the top 1 percent and top 0.1 percent of U.S. households from 1979 to 2007. Since then, income growth has remained unbalanced. Profits and stock market prices have reached record highs while the wages of most workers have continued to stagnate.

Economic costs for employee compensation -- March 2018.  (Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S. Department of Labor, 6/8/2018)

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $36.32 per hour worked in March 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $24.77 per hour worked and accounted for 68.2 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $11.55 and accounted for the remaining 31.8 percent.

Divide and conquer:  The war on public employees

Source:  Bureau of Labor Statistics

Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $34.17 per hour worked. Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $49.40 per hour worked.