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Equity compensation is taking on a growing role in the retirement strategies of American workers, with new research from Charles Schwab showing that nearly all stock plan participants consider it an important workplace benefit.
Three-quarters of those surveyed described equity compensation as “very important,” and almost half said it is essential when evaluating new job opportunities. READ MORE
Ever catch yourself wondering how your parents—or maybe your grandparents—managed so much with just one paycheck?
I do. My mom likes to remind me that back in the late 1970s, my dad’s modest salary as an accountant was enough for a mortgage, a car, and family vacations. They weren’t living large, but they weren’t drowning in debt either.
Fast forward to today, and most couples I know are running on two full-time incomes just to stay afloat. And even then, the math often feels impossible.
So, what changed? Let’s break it down. READ MORE
The wealthiest Americans have been doing even better than previously thought — and are driving a consumer spending surge that has been fueling the U.S. economy as they splurge on travel, hotels and dining out, newly-revised economic data shows.
Updated figures released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday show that income growth since 2020 from investments, rental properties and businesses has been far more robust than previously reported. Capital incomes were revised up by a total 4.4 percent, reflecting the post-lockdown boost in stock prices and home values that has disproportionately benefited the wealthiest. READ MORE
After two uncharacteristic years of decline in 2022 and 2023, the pay for chief executive officers (CEOs) of the 350 largest firms in the U.S. increased in 2024. As of the latest data available, realized compensation—which captures what CEOs took home in pay after any stock-based compensation was sold—averaged nearly 23 million dollars in 2024 at the 350 largest publicly traded firms, an increase of 5.9% since 2023.
EPI’s new CEO pay data page details the latest information on CEO pay, the sources of CEO pay, and how CEO pay compares with what typical workers are paid, the stock market, and the pay of other highly paid workers. The new web page also provides historical data on each measure as far back as 1965. READ MORE
Tesla is now buying advertising on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) to get Tesla shareholders to vote for his CEO compensation package worth up to $1 trillion in stock options.
Tesla, under Elon Musk’s leadership, has famously been against advertising. The CEO is even on the record saying that he “hates advertising” and that “other companies spend money on advertising and manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product.” READ MORE
As we dive headfirst into the digital era, the way we pay our employees is undergoing a significant transformation. Don't get me wrong, Bitcoin has been a great ride but its volatility is a nightmare. Thankfully, stablecoins are coming in to save the day! So, how are these cryptocurrencies and stablecoins reshaping the salary landscape? Buckle up, because it's about to get interesting. READ MORE
Nearly 11 million Americans work as managers in the United States. A diverse field, managers can be everything from legislators to chief executives to school administrators. They can work on farms, in hospitals, in childcare centers, or at corporations. They can also earn a pretty substantial salary-the average salary is in the six figures (over $141,000 a year). But which management jobs are the most lucrative? Stacker identified the 30 management jobs that pay the highest median salaries and listed them in order from least lucrative to most, using 2024 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to BLS, the estimates "are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in every state and the District of Columbia." READ MORE
Across the United States, median full-time salaries vary widely depending on the state. From booming coastal economies to regions with lower costs of living, geographic differences play a major role in shaping income levels.
This visualization maps out the median full-time salary by state in 2024 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the latest data available as of September 2025. READ MORE
Excessive levels of executive pay are headline news and have become a focal point of public scrutiny and academic debate. The wide – and increasing – ratio between executives’ and workers’ pay raises questions about corporate ethics, fairness, and societal impact. Yet executive pay decision-makers report on significant challenges in translating ethical principles into practice and perceived unfairness in executive rewards persists. Dr Sue Shortland reports on recent research.
In their academic paper “Bridging Theory and Practice: Ethical Governance of Executive Compensation in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100”*, published earlier this year Perkins and Shortland report that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-to-worker pay ratio stood at 324:1 among Standard and Poor’s 500 companies in 2022, up from 61:1 in 1989. Not only is the differential considered to be egregious but it continues to increase. READ MORE
Elon Musk addressed the pay debate directly on X after a user urged shareholders to back the proposal. He said, “It’s not about ‘compensation,’ but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.” He added, “If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future.” READ MORE
With companies increasingly dropping environmental, social and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) factors from their executive pay plans, there’s sharp disagreement between investors and issuers as to how these kinds of changes should be viewed by proxy advisory firms, according to the latest voting policy survey from ISS Governance.
The firm published the results of its latest annual global benchmark policy survey, which it uses to help craft its voting policies for the upcoming proxy season. READ MORE
Chief Executive Group just released the 2025–26 CEO & Senior Executive Compensation Report for Private U.S. Companies, the most trusted annual benchmarking resource for executive compensation across privately held businesses in the U.S.
In this latest edition, data shows that actual bonus payouts as a percentage of base salary have been lagging for CEOs since coming out of COVID and the trend seems to be here to stay. The study finds that for the first time in four years, the bonus target for the CEO has fallen, while base salary increases are hardly keeping up with inflation. READ MORE
In a post shared on the social media platform X on Monday, the company urged its shareholders and investors to vote in support of the Board. "Our next chapter will help create a world we've only begun to imagine & put the world on a path towards sustainable abundance for all," referring to the Master Plan IV released by the company, which focuses heavily on Robotics and AI.
"We are asking shareholders to vote with our Board's recommendations on *all* proposals," the company said and added guidance on how they can vote during the process. READ MORE
Equity compensation is far more than a workplace perk for employees at firms offering this benefit. According to a new survey from Charles Schwab of stock plan participants, three-quarters (76%) say equity compensation is very important, and nearly half consider it a “must-have” benefit when evaluating a new job. Half view equity compensation as a critical tool to help achieve retirement goals, and many say it will help them build/increase wealth (38%), learn more about investing (37%), alleviate financial stress (32%), and boost employee morale (32%). Participants say company stock makes up about one-third of their overall investment portfolios on average. READ MORE
The relationship between employee compensation, recognition, and an organization's culture of compliance is increasingly under scrutiny. Regulators, stakeholders and boards are recognizing that how employees are paid, rewarded and potentially penalized can significantly influence behavior.
Effectively integrating compliance considerations into compensation structures requires an integrated approach, encompassing mechanisms to penalize wrongdoing and strategies to proactively incentivize ethical behavior and adherence to
compliance norms.
Effectively integrating compliance considerations into compensation structures requires an integrated approach, encompassing mechanisms to penalize wrongdoing and strategies to proactively incentivize ethical behavior and adherence to compliance norms. READ MORE
A recent survey has found that budgets for employee compensation in 2026 are projected to be about on par with where they were this year—and ongoing economic uncertainty could be keeping compensation investments flat.
Mercer’s U.S. Compensation Planning survey found that employers plan to boost their compensation budgets by 3.1% for merit increases and 3.5% for total salary increases for non-unionized employees. That’s consistent with 2025, as employers have delivered actual merit and total salary increases of 3.2% and 3.5%, respectively. READ MORE
Deloitte’s 2018 High-Impact Total Rewards study revealed a great deal of room for improvement within the world of rewards. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) for rewards at the time was an abysmal negative-15, and rewards offerings were actually hurting organizations’ employment brand. Recognition, in particular, was largely untapped. It’s human nature to seek acknowledgement for a job well done, but the status quo for recognition programs rarely rose above common and routine activities like service anniversaries. Only 2% of surveyed organizations considered recognition to be a competitive differentiator, and 31% did not consider recognition to be a differentiator at all. READ MORE
In the U.S., the connection between education and income is stark, with higher education leading to higher median earnings consistently.
This visualization highlights how median annual salaries change at each successive level of educational attainment in the United States, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2024. READ MORE
Americans’ belief in the necessity of a college degree has dropped sharply over the past decade. Only about one in three U.S. adults now say higher education is "very important," down from three-quarters in 2010, according to a new Gallup poll.
Yet Census Bureau data shows that college still pays off in significant ways, with median earnings for degree holders nearly double those of high school graduates. READ MORE
Today, Bank of America announced it has raised its U.S. minimum hourly wage to $25 per hour. With the increase, the minimum annualized salary for full-time employees in the U.S. will rise to more than $50,000. The increase, which goes into effect in early October, applies to all full-time and part-time hourly positions in the U.S., affecting thousands of employees across the nation and helping to fuel the growth of the American economy and create job opportunities that strengthen the communities the company serves. READ MORE
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