Fast-Food CEOs Make 1,000 Times the Pay of the Average Fast-Food Worker

Economic inequality in the U.S. can be quantified in all sorts of ways. The 1 percent account for almost 40 percent of the country’s wealth. The 0.1 percent account for more than 10 percent all by themselves. The combined wealth of the 0.01 percent totals $6 trillion. The pay gap between the top chief executive officers and the average workers at their companies is about 331 to 1. Now comes another ratio, courtesy of Demos, a public policy organization in New York: 1,200 to 1. That’s the pay gap between CEOs of fast-food companies and the average fast-food worker in 2012.

The report, scheduled for release later this morning, is called “Fast Food Failure: How CEO-to-Worker Pay Disparity Undermines the Industry and the Overall Economy.” It notes that fast-food CEOs are some of the highest-paid executives in America, with an average compensation of $26.7 million in 2012. Fast-food workers are the lowest-paid. Their average hourly wage is $9.09. The companies cited include McDonald’s, Chipotle, Starbucks, Yum! Brands (owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell) and six others.