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Inquality of income is worsening


United States REFERRING TO LARGEST 15 COMPANIES

The real average pay of American CEOs, including share-based compensation, rose from over US$ 16 million per year in 2003 to nearly US$ 24.5 million in 2007. This increase – nearly 10 per cent per year on average – far exceeded that of 2.5 per cent for other executives and 0.7 per cent for employees (fi g. 1.9, panel A).

Including share-based compensation, therefore, accentuates the gap between CEO compensation and average salaries. In 2007, US CEOs earned more than 521 times the average employee, as against 370 times four years earlier (fi g. 1.9, panel B). When sharebased compensation is included, CEOs also earned nearly twice as much as average executives in 2007, compared to one and a half times as much in 2003.

International Labor Organization, The World of Work Report 2008, Income Inequalities in an Age of Financial Globalization, Geneva, 18. http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Pre...,

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