CEOs Make 262 Times More Than Average Workers

As Republicans once again refuse to raise the $5.15 minimum wage, the Economic Policy Institute is out with a new study that found CEOs made 262 times the pay of an average worker in 2005. Just 30 years ago, CEOs made 24 times more than average workers.

In fact, a CEO earned more in one workday than an average worker earned in 52 weeks, said the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

The typical worker's compensation averaged just under $42,000 for the year, while the average CEO brought home almost $11 million, EPI said.

In recent years, compensation has been a hot issue with shareholders who have been bombarded with news stories about chief executives who are given multimillion dollar bonus and pay packages even if shares have declined.

For example, the chief executives of 11 of the largest companies were awarded a total of $865 million in pay in the last two years, even as they presided over a total loss of $640 billion in shareholder value, a recent study from governance firm the Corporate Library, found.

Survival of the fittest.