Business Monday

How typical worker’s pay compares to CEO salary

 

Associated Press

David Simon of Simon Property received a pay package worth more than $137 million for last year, and the typical CEO took home $9.6 million, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Here are some ways to think about just how much money those salaries represent.

Simon’s $137 million is almost entirely in stock awards that could eventually be worth $132 million. The company said it wanted to make sure Simon wasn’t lured to another company.

• How long it takes others to make that much: A minimum wage worker – paid $7.25 per hour, as some workers at Simon malls are – would have to work one month shy of 9,096 years to make what Simon made last year. A person making the national median salary, $39,312 by AP calculations, would have to work 3,489 years.

• By the hour: Assuming Simon worked a 60-hour week, his pay was $43,963.64 per hour, or $732.73 per minute. To put that in perspective, the minimum-wage worker would have to labor for nearly three years to make what Simon earns in an hour. The average U.S. worker makes slightly less in one year than Simon makes in an hour.

• Compared with America’s CEO: Simon makes about 342 times the $400,000 annual salary of President Barack Obama. In fact, if you add the salaries of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court justices, all the members of the Senate and House of Representatives and all 50 governors, it is less than $110 million, so Simon makes well more than government’s top 600 leaders. In the past 100 years, U.S. taxpayers have paid a total of $80.6 million, adjusted for inflation, to presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Obama.

The median CEO salary of $9.587 million

• How long it takes others to make that much: A minimum wage worker would have to work 636 years to make that much. A person making the national average salary would have to work 244 years to make the median CEO salary.

• By the hour: If you assume the CEO works a 60-hour week, the pay comes to $3,072.84 per hour, or $51.21 per minute. To put that in perspective, the minimum wage worker would have to labor more than 10 weeks to make what the median CEO earns in an hour. It would take the average U.S. worker nearly a month to make what the average CEO makes in an hour.

• Compared with America’s CEO: The CEO who made the median salary took in 12 times the total $789,674 in gross income that President Obama reported last year. But it is less than half the $20.9 million in income that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney reported in his tax filing.

Read more Business Monday stories from the Miami Herald

  •  

- Sam Steiner is a sophomore in high school and is the first place winner of the Business Plan Challenge High School Track. He runs a company called SeniorLink Consulting, which links up high school students with senior citizens to help them set up their computer, learn how to browse the web to keep up with news, as well as how to use email and Skype and social media. He has already hired an employee, another high school student, Amanda Miller, (center) to help with computer tutuoring. Sam works with Marilyn Pechter (left) in her home in Boca Raton.

    1st Place: SeniorLink Consulting

    Winning SeniorLink helps senior citizens stay connected

    A win-win: This operating business offers affordable service to seniors by employing teens.

  •  

John Temerian is president of Lou La Vie luxury car rentals at 1444 Biscayne Blvd in Miami.  It rents luxury cars such as the Ferrari 458 Spider at left, which goes for $2,850 per day.

    The luxury car rental market is revving up in South Florida

    The luxury car rental market is revving up in South Florida, where wealthy foreign tourists, celebrities, athletes, business people and other car enthusiasts can get behind the wheel of the car of their dreams — like a Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini or Rolls-Royce — and rent by the day, a week or a month.

  •  

Brian Brackeen is the CEO of Kairos, a Miami-based startup focused on facial recognition in the workplace and retail environments.

    My View: ‘Miami Nice’ is becoming our special sauce

    I am the CEO of Kairos, a tech startup focused on facial recognition in the workforce management and retail spaces. We moved from San Francisco to Miami last year and it’s been nothing less than a stellar experience and a blessing.

Miami Herald

Join the
Discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

The Miami Herald uses Facebook's commenting system. You need to log in with a Facebook account in order to comment. If you have questions about commenting with your Facebook account, click here.

Have a news tip? You can send it anonymously. Click here to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

Hide Comments

This affects comments on all stories.

Cancel OK

  • Videos

  • Quick Job Search

Enter Keyword(s) Enter City Select a State Select a Category