CEO compensation in 2025 dramatically outpaced worker wage growth, with chief executives at major corporations receiving raises 20 times larger than those of typical employees, according to analysis from the International Trade Union Confederation and Oxfam.
Global real CEO pay surged 54 percent between 2019 and 2025 while real worker pay fell 12 percent over the same period. Last year alone, chief executives received an 11 percent real-terms pay increase compared to just 0.5 percent for the average global worker.
The disparity reached extreme levels at individual corporations. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan collected over $205 million in 2025, leading a group of at least four major corporate chiefs who each exceeded $100 million in annual compensation. These packages combined salary, bonuses, and equity awards.
Wealth concentration extended beyond CEO salaries. Billionaires accumulated dividends totaling $2,500 per second throughout 2025, demonstrating the accelerating concentration of global wealth among the ultra-rich.
The labor and anti-poverty organizations released these findings to pressure policymakers for immediate intervention. The ITUC and Oxfam called for higher tax rates targeting the wealthiest individuals and corporations, along with binding legal limits on CEO compensation relative to worker pay. Such policies aim to reverse the wealth gap expansion documented in their analysis.
The data underscores tensions between corporate leadership compensation and stagnant worker earnings globally. As real wages declined for ordinary employees, executive pay packages grew substantially, widening economic inequality. Advocates argue that current tax systems and corporate governance structures fail to address runaway executive compensation while workers struggle with inflation-adjusted wage losses.
These findings coincide with broader labor movement demands for wage increases and wealth redistribution through tax policy, positioning CEO pay as a political flashpoint heading into 2025 policy debates