It takes 300 worker salaries to equal the average CEO's pay, data show

The pay gap between CEOs and the typical U.S. worker widened during the pandemic. Leaders of companies listed on the S&P 500-stock index earned an average of $15.5 million in 2020, a raise of more than $700,000 from the previous year, according to the AFL-CIO. 

That means S&P 500 chief executives made 299 times what rank-and-file employees earned, up from a ratio of 264-to-1 in 2019, the labor union said in a report released on Wednesday.  The biggest divide was among consumer discretionary companies, such as apparel, fast-food and other large retailers. The average consumer discretionary company in the S&P 500 Index had a pay ratio of 741-to-1 in 2020, according to AFL-CEO data. New Amazon CEO Andy Jassy received $35.8 million in total compensation in 2020, for example — 1,234 times that of the median worker at the online retailer, who made $29,007 last year, the union said in a statement.