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As a labor shortage rages in nearly every industry, we see reports suggesting that wages are increasing in many areas to attract workers. In fact, just this week we learned that the average pay for grocery and restaurant workers has topped $15 an hour for the first time.

But would it surprise you to learn that as wages inch up for the lowest paid, that they\\u2019re going up at the executive level as well? Probably not.

A new report issued by the Economic Policy Institute has tracked CEO pay back to 1978 and says that the average chief executive\\u2019s pay has grown 1,322% in that time period. And while that\\u2019s certainly a long span of time -- more than 40 years -- the average worker\\u2019s pay has grown a mere 18 percent during that same time period.

This means the average CEO makes $351 for every dollar the average worker does\\u2026 and though a recent report in Forbes says wealth increased for the ultra-wealthy to the tune of $5 trillion during the pandemic, EPI points out that the CEO-to-worker pay ratio isn\\u2019t even the highest it\\u2019s ever been. That happened in 2000, when it was 366-to-1.

And even if you\\u2019re at the bottom rung of this lop-sided ladder, you\\u2019re not alone: the report says that even the top .1% of workers -- those just below the chief exec category -- still make about 6 and a half times less, putting CEOs, according to the report\\u2019s author Lawrence Mishel, \\u201cin their own stratosphere.\\u201d

But there\\u2019s hope. EPI says that the existing labor shortage will continue to put pressure on companies to increase wages and benefits for even their lowest paid workers and that could shift some power in the direction of the rank-and-file which is, says Mishel, \\u201csomething they desperately need.\\u201d

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