LANSING – A report issued Wednesday by the AFL-CIO shows that chief executives for Michigan companies made 391 times the average pay for non-supervisory staff in 2016. The Executive PayWatch Report showed the average compensation for CEOs of Michigan S&P 500 companies was $14.71 million last year, compare $37,600 for production and other non-supervisory staff.
Union officials said policies implemented by Republican leaders in the state had allowed the discrepancy to develop.
“Right now the economy is out of balance,” Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, said in a statement announcing the report. “That’s no accident. It’s because Republicans in Lansing and Washington have manipulated the rules of the economy to favor their corporate donors, while regular working families struggle to get by. We need to build an economy that works for everyone, including the middle class. That means giving workers the right to speak up together for stronger paychecks, the right to earn paid time off, and more time to be with family.”
The report showed the highest paid executive in the state was Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, who made $22.96 million last year. The report said that was 610 times the pay of a production worker at Dow.
The highest paid CEO nationally was Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, who made $100.63 million in 2015.
There are 57 of the S&P 500 companies headquartered in Michigan.
This story was published by Gongwer News Service.
