CEO pay falls, but still 271 times higher than median workers’
CEO pay fell last year from the record levels set in 2021, but many chief executives, including those in financial services, take home more than 200 times the median figures earned by workers at their companies.
That’s according to data published Thursday by the AFL-CIO, which cited the average compensation of CEOs at S&P 500 firms as $16.7 million in 2022, down from $18.3 million in 2021. Overall, the pay ratio of CEOs to workers was 271-to-1 — a figure that’s also lower than the 350-to-1 ratio seen in 2021, data from AFL-CIO and As You Sow show.
However, a distinction this year is the emerging role of artificial intelligence in pay packages, Fred Redmond, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, said in prepared remarks Thursday.
“When looking at this year’s highest paid CEOs — those who received over $100 million in total compensation — we noted that they are all actively working to incorporate artificial intelligence into their business models,” Redmond said. “It’s not just the tech giants like Oracle and Google’s parent Alphabet. It includes companies that recently had their IPOs like the legal services company CS Disco and the human resources company Workday.”
But the standout in AI is Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, who, at $253 million in total comp last year, was the highest-paid CEO in the group’s database, Redmond said.
“It’s almost inconceivable,” he said, adding that Schwarzman has made notable gifts related to AI studies at MIT and Oxford. “He’s betting on the AI revolution, and it’s happening now. It’s going to affect how we work and live, and nearly every company is starting to grapple with its potential to transform our economy.”
Although AI “has the potential to unleash broad based prosperity,” it could
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