American CEOs enjoy 15% pay rise in second year of double-digit hikes - 5/2/12



Edward Breen of Tyco, Michael Johnson of Herbalife and Sam Palmisano of IBM received pay packages of over $60m. Photograph: AP/Getty Images
America's top bosses have handed themselves double-digit pay rises for the second year in a row, according to interim figures from the most comprehensive survey of CEO pay.
The Guardian's exclusive first look at the research by GMI Ratings reveals that rising share prices helped drive a 15% pay hike for the average US CEO in 2011, with the average compensation package hitting $5.8m.
It comes on the back of a 28% pay rise the year before. The two years of double-digit growth follow two years of decline in 2008 and 2009.
The boom time for chief executives contrasts sharply with the wider economy, where average wages have been little better than flat. A compensation survey by Mercer found US employers planned average increase in base pay of 3% in 2012. Inflation is about 2.7%.
Last year, the census bureau reported that the income of the typical American family had dropped for the third year in a row. The median family income in 2010 was $49.445, 7.1% below its 1999 peak and when adjusted for inflation roughly at levels last seen in 1996.
CEOs in the top 500 companies, enjoyed, on average, total realised compensation of $12.1m
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