Despite headlines, ‘peanut butter’ pay raises remain rare

Employers in the U.S. appear to have delivered on their compensation promises in 2026, according to new data from Mercer. However, a deeper look shows that a narrative about a wave of across-the-board pay increases doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

The mean merit increase paid out this spring was 3.1%, just below the 3.2% employers projected back in October 2025, according to Mercer’s new QuickPulse US Compensation Planning Survey, which drew responses from 756 organizations. Average total increases, which include all pay adjustments beyond merit, came in at 3.4%, also one-tenth of a point below the fall forecast. READ MORE

Median pay for CEOs rose nearly 6% in 2025, but some compensation packages were eye-popping

The typical CEO compensation package rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $17.7 million, as company boards rewarded their top executives for bigger profits and higher stock prices, and gave them incentives to stick around and make even more money for shareholders.

The median employee at companies in the S&P 500 earned $89,744, reflecting a 4.7% increase year over year. While that gain outpaced the rate of inflation in 2025, many workers were still feeling pinched by the accumulation of higher prices over the past few years and had to cut corners to make ends meet and run up credit card debt to pay for everyday necessities. READ MORE

Incentive Pay, Stock Awards Drive Double-Digit Jump In Bank CEO Compensation

CEO pay across the banking sector climbed sharply in 2024, with nearly every chief executive in a new Compensation Advisory Partners analysis receiving higher total compensation than the year before, as boards rewarded stronger earnings, rebounding bonuses and improved shareholder returns following the regional banking turmoil of 2023.

Compensation Advisory Partners examined pay at 54 large and regional banks and found all but four CEOs received increases in total direct compensation in 2024. Among regional banks with between $10 billion and $50 billion in assets, average CEO pay jumped 24.1%, nearly double the increase seen at larger institutions, according to CAP data cited by American Banker. READ MORE

Connecticut Expands Pay Transparency Requirements

Connecticut’s enactment of H.B. 5003 reflects a continuing nationwide trend toward greater pay transparency and enhanced employee protections concerning compensation. While building on the state’s existing statutory framework, the amendments materially expand both the scope and timing of employer disclosure obligations, particularly in the recruiting and hiring context.

These changes are likely to have significant operational implications for employers, particularly those with multistate workforces, as Connecticut’s requirements now more closely align with (and in some respects expand upon) similar laws in jurisdictions such as New York and New Jersey. READ MORE

Sergey Brin spends $500K to fight tax targeting companies with high-paid executives

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is continuing his foray into California politics with a newly reported donation to a group fighting against a proposed tax in San Francisco that would hit companies with high-paid executives in the tech hub.

A political contribution filing submitted on Wednesday revealed that Brin donated $500,000 to a group that's opposing San Francisco Measure D, which will appear on voters' ballots on June 2. READ MORE

Jeff Bezos says some Americans should pay zero federal income tax

Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos, by some estimates the world's fourth-wealthiest person, has turned the tables on the "tax the rich" effort. He is advocating for eliminating federal income taxes for lower-income Americans.

In an interview on Wednesday with CNBC, Bezos reflected on his upbringing as the son of a Cuban immigrant and a teenage mother, who "brought themselves up" during hard times. READ MORE

SEC Proposes Major Overhaul of Public Company Reporting Framework: Two-Tier Filer Status System, Expanded Disclosure Accommodations, and New Relief for the Smallest Filers

Executive Compensation Disclosure. non-accelerated filers would be entitled to provide significantly scaled executive compensation disclosure, including: disclosure for only three (instead of five) named executive officers; only two years (instead of three years) of summary compensation table information; and exemptions from the requirement to provide a Compensation Discussion and Analysis, pay ratio disclosure, pay versus performance disclosure, and several executive compensation tables (including grants of plan-based awards, pension benefits, option exercises and stock vested, and nonqualified deferred compensation tables). READ MORE

How America’s corporate giants fell out of love with ESG-linked executive pay

Large US-headquartered companies are becoming less explicit about linking executive pay to sustainability goals, Sustainable Views’ analysis of proxy filings reveals.

As businesses rushed to demonstrate their sustainability credentials in the early 2020s, many began making a proportion of executive pay conditional on ESG-related targets or metrics. By 2024, roughly three-quarters of S&P 500 companies embedded some type of environmental, social and governance performance into their executive compensation plans — though approaches have always varied. READ MORE

Trends of Pay Transparency Laws and Salary History Bans Continue to Grow

As we have previously reported, a growing number of states and localities have enacted legislation requiring employers to post salary ranges for available positions and prohibiting employers from asking applicants and employees about their salary history. The purported purpose of these laws is, at a high level, to increase pay transparency and pay equity by closing pay gaps and allowing candidates to effectively negotiate for themselves in hiring. Several additional states — including Virginia, Maine, and Delaware — have now joined the list of states with such laws. READ MORE

Millions of salaried workers would get paid more under new bill

Millions of salaried workers could see bigger paychecks under a new bill that aims to dramatically expand overtime eligibility for Americans earning middle-class wages.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic Representative Mark Takano have introduced the Restoring Overtime Pay Act of 2026, a bill that would raise the salary threshold for overtime pay and extend protections to tens of millions of workers currently excluded. READ MORE

25 high-paying jobs that are projected to grow a lot over the next decade

Software developers, who typically earn high pay, will likely still be needed in the era of artificial intelligence.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published new median annual wage data for May 2025, showing how much hundreds of occupations typically pay. Business Insider used these estimates with projected employment changes from 2024 to 2034, previously released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to develop a ranking of fast-growing, high-paying jobs. READ MORE

Why job seekers looking for $200k-plus roles should be worried

When Deirdre Hosking stepped away from her role as a senior HR executive in the finance industry last March, she was ready for a bit of a career break. So when she found the market for leadership positions “soft” and salaries in a slump, she was happy to bide her time and wait for finer weather.

“I chose to sit back and have a great break for the rest of last year, hoping the market would rebound,” Hosking said. READ MORE

Payroll data exposes six-figure salaries behind transit strike grinding NYC travel to a halt

Long Island Rail Road workers walked off the job on Monday after rejecting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s latest wage offer, snarling travel for hundreds of thousands of weekday commuters even as payroll data shows the striking employees already earn six-figure pay.

LIRR employees had am average income of $121,646 plus an average of $25,957 in overtime pay as of 2024, according to data provided by the railroad operator. While the typical LIRR employee makes about $150,000 a year, the median household on Long Island, which often contains multiple workers, earned just $131,000 in 2023, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. READ MORE

California initiative to limit compensation for healthcare executives qualifies for the ballot

A California ballot initiative to establish a $450,000 compensation limit for healthcare executives qualified for the 2026 ballot on May 12. The limit would be increased by 3.5% or the annual rate of change in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (U.S. CPI-W), whichever is lower. The initiative would apply to executives and managers of private hospitals, private physician groups, and public hospitals owned by special districts, and exclude county-operated hospitals and physician groups with fewer than 25 employees. The limit would be effective for the 2027 calendar year. READ MORE