CEO pay and stock buybacks have soared at the 100 largest low-wage corporations

Summary

Introduction This 31st annual Institute for Policy Studies Executive Excess report takes an in-depth look at the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay, a group we have dubbed the “Low-Wage 100.” For each of these companies, we analyze CEO and worker pay trends since 2019. We also compare, for the past six years, what these companies have spent on stock buybacks to pump up short-term share prices with what they have invested in long-term capital improvements. The report’s overall finding: At a time when many American workers are struggling with high costs for groceries and housing, the nation’s largest low-wage employers are fixated on making their overpaid CEOs even richer. Our analysis ends with realizable policy solutions for pushing Corporate America in a more equitable direction. For detailed analysis , including our methodology, see the full PDF below. A summary follows. Key findings CEO pay at Low-Wage 100 firms has soared since 2019 while median worker pay has lagged behind U.S. inflation. Between 2019 and 2024, average CEO compensation within this group rose 34.7 percent in nominal — unadjusted for inflation — terms, more than double the 16.3 percent increase in these firms’ average median worker pay. The U.S. inflation rate over this same period: 22.6 percent. Average CEO compensation within the Low-Wage 100 hit $17.2 million in 2024. The group’s average median worker pay sat at just $35,570. The average CEO-worker pay ratio of Low-Wage 100 firms has widened by 12.9 percent, from 560 to 1 in 2019 to 632 to 1 in 2024. The nominal value of median pay actually fell at 22 Low-Wage 100 corporations during this period. The Starbucks pay gap hit 6,666 to 1 last year, the Low-Wage 100’s widest spread by far. In 2024, the Starbucks CEO pocketed $95.8 million. Over the past six years, amid worker discontent fueling union-organizing drives at hundreds of Starbucks stores, the firm’s median pay rose just 4.2 percent in real terms to $14,674. Only s...