CEO Pay Soars 20x Faster Than Workers' Wages in 2025, Report Shows Extreme Inequality

CEO Pay Outpaces Worker Wages by 20x in 2025, Fueling Wealth Inequality

As gas prices, energy bills, and grocery costs surge, workers worldwide face an affordability crisis. Patricia Stottlemyer, policy lead for labor rights at Oxfam America, emphasizes that this crisis cannot be discussed without addressing extreme wealth inequality. The gap between executives and workers has widened significantly in 2025.

According to a new analysis by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Oxfam, the top 1,500 CEOs of the world’s largest corporations received an 11% real-terms pay raise in 2025. In contrast, the average global worker saw their real wages increase by only 0.5%. This means CEO pay grew 20 times faster than workers’ wages last year.

In the United States, the disparity is even more pronounced: CEO pay grew 20.4 times faster than workers’ wages, with a 25.6% increase compared to just 1.3% for workers.

CEO Compensation Reaches Record Highs

The average CEO earned $8.4 million in 2025, including pay and bonuses, up from $7.6 million in 2024. This represents a 54% real-terms increase since 2019, when the average CEO pay was $5.5 million.

Some executives received substantially higher compensation. The CEO of semiconductor company Broadcom earned a $205.3 million pay package in 2025, while Microsoft’s CEO received $96 million.

Workers Face Declining Wages Amid Rising Costs

While CEO pay surged, real wages for workers globally have dropped 12% since 2019. During the same period, food prices rose by 15% and gasoline prices by 14%, adjusted for inflation. Recent geopolitical conflicts, including tensions in Iran, have further exacerbated price shocks.

On April 28, 2025, U.S. gas prices reached their highest level in four years, averaging $4.18 per gallon.

“This data really puts some numbers behind what average working folks are feeling day to day. Food and gas prices are soaring, and 48% of the world is living in poverty. And while workers face that exceptional hardship, the CEOs of the world’s largest corporations have never had it so good.”

Billionaire Wealth Grows at Unprecedented Rates

Beyond CEO pay, billionaires as a group have seen their wealth skyrocket. In 2025, total billionaire wealth grew by $126,000 per second. By early 2026, billionaires were collectively $4 trillion richer than they were 12 months prior.

One major source of billionaire wealth is dividends from companies they invest in. In 2025 alone, companies paid out $79 billion in dividends to billionaires—equivalent to $2,500 every second.

Oxfam reports that, on average, billionaires earn more from dividends in under two hours than the average worker earns in an entire year.

Productivity vs. Compensation: A Growing Divide

The analysis underscores a widening gap between worker productivity and compensation. While executives and billionaires accumulate record wealth, workers struggle with stagnant wages and rising living costs, deepening global inequality.