EDITORIAL: Wait and see on pay ratios
Given the high levels of inequality in SA, should we follow the US SEC's new rule requiring companies to declare CEO to median worker pay ratios?
Starting in 2018, the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is requiring companies to declare the ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay and the results are predictably eye popping. Given the high levels of inequality in SA, should we be doing the same? The new rule was mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was legislated after the financial crisis in 2009. The implementation has been repeatedly delayed following opposition from business groups. But it is now in force, and among the notable names that have reported on CEO pay in 2018 PepsiCo revealed a ratio of 650 to 1, Citigroup a ratio of 369 to 1 and Johnson & Johnson a ratio of 452 to 1. Various surveys in SA appear to show even larger disparities. One survey on this basis suggests the average ratio in SA between median salaries of workers in locally listed companies and CEO pay is about 500 to 1. In SA, the JSE does not require the publication of an intracompany Gini coeffi...
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