New Report on CEO-Worker Pay Gaps at the 100 Largest Low-Wage Corporations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Report URL: https://ips-dc.org/report-executive-excess-2025
Press contacts below
On August 21, ahead of Labor Day, the Institute for Policy Studies released the 31st annual Executive Excess report, which takes an in-depth look at the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay — a group IPS has dubbed the “Low-Wage 100.”
For each of these low-wage corporations, IPS analyzed CEO and worker pay trends since 2019 and compared what these companies have spent on buying back their own stock with what they have invested in capital improvements over the past six years.
“This report spotlights how America’s largest low-wage employers are funneling profits into their CEOs’ pockets – at the expense of both their workers and their companies’ long-term growth,” said lead report author and executive compensation expert Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Key findings:
CEO pay at Low-Wage 100 firms has soared while median worker pay has lagged behind U.S. inflation since 2019.
- The average CEO-to-worker pay gap of the Low-Wage 100 widened by 12.9 percent from 560 to 1 in 2019 to 632 to 1 in 2024.
- Average CEO compensation in 2024 was $17.2 million, while average median worker pay was only $35,570.
- 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.
- The nominal value of median pay actually fell at 22 Low-Wage 100 corporations during this period.
- Starbucks reported by far the largest pay gap in the Low-Wage 100 in 2024. CEO Brian Niccol raked in stock grants and other compensation worth $95.8 million — 6,666 times as much as the company’s $14,674 median pay.
- Ulta Beauty reported the Low-Wage 100’s steepest drop in median pay. Between 2019 and 2024, a period when the cosmetic retailer significantly expanded the part-time worker share of its workforce, the company’s real median pay plunged by 46 percent to $11,078.
From 2019 through 2024, the Low-Wage 100 spent $644 billion on stock buybacks.
- Lowe’s ranks as the Low-Wage 100’s stock buyback leader. The company spent $46.6 billion on buying back its own shares between 2019 and 2024. That sum could’ve instead covered the cost of giving each of the firm’s 273,000 global employees an annual $28,456 bonus for six years. In 2024, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison enjoyed total compensation of $20.2 million, which is 659 times the retailer’s $30,606 median annual worker pay.
- Home Depot comes in second in the Low-Wage 100 buyback rankings. The big box chain could’ve given each of its 470,100 global employees $13,423 bonuses every year with the funds it spent on buybacks between 2019 and 2024. Home Depot median pay stands at just $35,196.
- From 2019 through 2024, 56 Low-Wage 100 firms spent more on stock buybacks than on long-term capital expenditures.
- At least 32 billionaires owe their wealth to Low-Wage 100 companies. Five of these firms have spawned multiple billionaires who are still living today: Walmart (eight), Estee Lauder (four), DoorDash (three), Public Storage (two), and Tyson Foods (two).
The report also highlights key policy changes to discourage wasteful stock buybacks and excessive CEO payouts, including taxing extreme CEO-worker pay gaps, increasing the stock buybacks tax, and restricting buybacks and CEO pay through federal contracts and subsidies.
“Across the political spectrum, Americans are fed up with overpaid CEOs,” said report author Anderson. “Policymakers should take long overdue action to push Corporate America in a more equitable direction.”
Full report: https://ips-dc.org/report-executive-excess-2025
Press contacts:
Sarah Anderson, sarah@ips-dc.org
Olivia Alperstein, olivia@ips-dc.org
About the author: Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-edits the IPS web site Inequality.org. She is a veteran executive compensation expert whose analysis has been featured in the Associated Press, the New York Times, Fortune, The Guardian, and many other outlets. Anderson has also testified on executive compensation before the Senate Budget Committee in 2012, 2021, and 2024.
About the Institute for Policy Studies
The Institute for Policy Studies is a multi-issue research center that has conducted path-breaking research on executive compensation for more than 20 years. IPS also provides a constant stream of inequality analysis and solutions through our Inequality.org web site and weekly newsletter.
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