Although presumably for different reasons, executive compensation in the U.S. continues to rile the public and CEOs.
The Business Roundtable, a Washington, D.C.-based association of 160 CEOs of leading U.S. companies has just released data that will soothe some people and further inflame others. From 1995 to 2005, the CEO group reports, median total compensation for chief executives in Mercer Human Resource Consulting's Mercer 350 database increased 9.6% annually. "This tracks closely with the 9.9% median annual shareholder returns over the same 10-year period and the 8.8% annual growth in median total market capitalization," says the Business Roundtable.
That claim, however, isn't likely to carry much weight with production workers in manufacturing, many of whom believe their pay did not grow by nearly as much during the decade.
