Highest-paid CEOs also layoff the most workers: study
It’s a real soul-wrenching thing, getting laid off is.
Was I not good enough? Was I not assertive enough? Didn’t I show ambition? Was it … was it someone else?
But for anyone who’s ever received a notice of termination and wondered why, this news is for you. Consider:
A new study from Marketwatch.com has shed light on some troubling trends regarding companies that have laid off thousands, and the CEOs who run them.
Namely, that since the recession began to take hold in 2008, the chief execs that agreed to lay off the most workers have also received higher compensation than their CEO counterparts.
According to Marketwatch, the CEOs of the 50 firms that laid off the most employees in the past two years earned 42 per cent more in salary and perks than the average boss of an S&P 500 company.
Of those 50 layoff-happy companies, their CEOs earned about $12 million on average last year; compare that to the rest of the S&P 500 bosses, who earned an average of $8.5 million in 2009.
This trend, as the study quotes, reflects the new mandate of the business world: “squeezing workers to boost profits and maintain high CEO pay.”
Now, what isn’t said in the Marketwatch study is if the singled-out CEOs’ pay increased because of the widespread layoffs or was just sky high to begin with, yet there’s still enough troubling data in the survey to draw the ire of anyone out of a job.
Not only did the top money-making CEOs – ex-Schering Plough boss Fred Hassan ($46.65 million in 2009), Johnson & Johnson chief William Weldon ($25.57 million) and ex-HP honcho Mark Hurd ($25.57 million) – lay off 16,000, 8,900 and 6,400 workers, respectively, last year, but five of the 50 layoff-happy companies received bailout money from their home governments. That money, it stands to reason, helped bloat the compensation of CEOs last year rather than keep workers from the unemployment line.
Further, Marketwatch notes, 72 per cent of announced layoffs during the recession came at a time when the company doing the axing was reporting positive earnings.
Sounds like many layoffs, then, haven’t been to protect the company’s bottom line. Sounds like they’ve been to protect someone else’s.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Cubatraveler | Sep 3, 2021 9:58:31 AM
This should surprise no one. Capitalism is all about making profits for the owners and shareholders, not providing good incomes for the working class. Without a lot of government intervention, wealth would gradually concentrate in the hands of the few while the majority become impoverished. Getting rid of middle class jobs by sending the work to China or India is accomplishing that right now and soon the U.S. will resemble the Latin American countries with a tiny wealthy elite and a mass of poor people.
Posted by: SP | Sep 3, 2021 11:25:21 AM
In the 1960's the wealth was much more evenly spread and the economy was great. Now the wealth is becoming as concentrated as it was in the late 1920's and for some strange reason we're having economic problems. If only the people we elected had tools like taxation and anti-monopoly regulations to prevent this from happening... Oh well, it's a market economy, we only need to have the richer and richer people spend more of their money. That is much easier to accomplish than a more equal distribution of wealth and relying on the bulk of the population to spend. I lament the fact that Canada has no natural resources like Oil or Potash that could be taxed to increase the national wealth. Or nickel, or diamonds, or gold, or timber or gypsum or wheat or electricty or uranium or.....
Posted by: don | Sep 3, 2021 6:10:07 PM
so so so sad
Posted by: freemarket | Sep 3, 2021 7:00:56 PM
Maybe the CEO's make more money because they are doing the right thing. Increasing productivity which is sorely needed in Canada as that is the one economic indicator that we trail most G20 nations in.
Posted by: Dr J. Steed | Sep 3, 2021 7:29:22 PM
Where is that damn reset button?
Posted by: John Gaul | Sep 3, 2021 8:05:34 PM
CEO's are among the most over rated and destructive people on the planet. It is time for the rest of us so send business friendly government an unambiguous message you do not work for big business you work for us.
Posted by: Tim | Sep 3, 2021 9:14:53 PM
freemarket your an a** hole
Posted by: Rod | Sep 3, 2021 10:47:27 PM
This is to Cubatraveler. If you think that the US is looking more like Latin America, I think Canada is heading the same way. The wealth of North America is heading east and by that I mean jobs, etc. If good paying jobs continue to be phased out here in North America to be replaced with low paying jobs, then I definitely think both Canada and the US will be like Latin American countries. Also, with low paying jobs and more taxes comes a lower standard of living. Hope this doesn't happen, but it seems that is the direction we are heading with
Posted by: Makes sense... | Sep 3, 2021 11:24:04 PM
This article reaffirms what is the norm in most large-scale companies. The higher you get, the less these guys know what to do with themselves. Yah CEO's and company presidents work hard, but I've found through my many years working for a couple large companies is that the President's are no different than the CEO's. Over paid and generally incompetent except when it comes to covering their own asses. They are really good at making sure the bottom line looks good on paper, that's their job, it's called covering their own ass. I have yet to meet a company president who is an effective leader, though they are effective at filling their bank accounts. Some credit is due I guess. Big smile, positive attitude, yah those are important but their not the only qualities that are important and I am tired of working for management who are only good at those two things and treat those qualities like that's all they need...
Posted by: frank g | Sep 3, 2021 11:37:20 PM
Those arrogant CEO's are UNTOUCHBLE. Does anyone remember?
Frank
Posted by: Scottie | Sep 4, 2021 12:30:16 AM
ONE QUESTION. What does a CEO add to the bottom line of an ailing company?
ONE ANSWER:...... NOTHING.! ONLY THE ACTUAL WORKERS "ADD " ANY VALUE TO the end product of ANY COMPANY!!!!
moral of idea..........THERE REALLY IS NO NEED FOR CEO's In ANY COMPANY...they are only there to leach away as much profit as they can take ,then they pass the gauntlet on to their other CEO buddies to grab what THEY can as they play musical chairs with each other .
in the end...the COMPANY goes BANKRUPT AND THE real WORKERS lose their jobs.
Posted by: freemarket | Sep 4, 2021 11:10:13 AM
Hey Scottie ever here of Steve Jobs what has he added to the bottom line of Apple?
John who do you think creates jobs, the government? Or maybe businesses.
Tim, nice rebuttal the truth hurts, eh!
Posted by: merle | Sep 4, 2021 12:06:51 PM
freemarket, you are on the right track to success. firstly, you are capable of ignoring the mass exodus of jobs from our shores. apparently you are oblivious to the numerous bankruptcies going on now.
you've no idea about the corresponding huge pay increases for the ceos of failing industries. and the disastrous effects on the global economy caused by selfish ceo decisions, is...well....it just didn't happen, did it?
the question is....where do you find time to fight the good fight on these forums? oh, i forgot, you must be a ceo.
what we really need is, say, a convincing argument that includes boasting delivered with a smug attitude. perhaps a statement of how filthy rich you are, or the yearly tally of your bar bill would be a winning argument as well. hahahahahha
Posted by: Steve | Sep 4, 2021 11:51:14 PM
CEO pay is proof that your stock or pension fund manager is clearly not working for you. The next logical question is what (if anything) you plan to do about it. We can work together to turn things around in a controlled manner or we can wait for ambitious children and grandchildren to start mounting people's heads on spikes. History has a funny way of repeating itself to re-teach the lessons from the past.
Posted by: Lisa | Sep 5, 2021 9:23:08 AM
Actually, Freemarket has some great points.
For some reason, reading this, "Dragon's Den" came to mind. I love that show. If it weren't for the CEO'S...would any of the rest of us be anywhere?? I'm reminded of a certain show for a bbq, that was portable. The guy was just an "average joe"...BUT he wasn't a bitter old man, he had a great attitude and was very thankful for anything he could get. He walked away from Dragon's Den a very happy man. Anyway...my bottom line...quit with the "world done me wrong" attitude, get off your butts and be willing to work for these GREAT MINDs...called CEO's. They just might like you and give you a raise. (By the way, without GREAT MINDS...do you know we'd still be in the dark?)
Just an off-note there.
Posted by: titus | Sep 5, 2021 11:32:57 AM
lisa's advice is to go get a job with one of these ceo's known for firing people!?!
not only known for it, but insanely compensated for firing workers!?! (in other words, there's no incentive to stop firing people).
and then bases her argument on a "reality" show!?!
and her larger vision?? it includes the practice of firing people on north american shores, all while replacing those jobs with sweatshops.
just remember to grovel while these idiots introduce record unemployment figures and global economic instability.
omg.
some cattle run to the butchering block, i guess.
Posted by: Lisa | Sep 5, 2021 11:50:05 PM
Yes Titus...you've got it. (a bit of sarcasm there) I still agree with Freemarket.
Posted by: Scottie | Sep 6, 2021 4:41:07 PM
I can only guess that Lisa is either "NEW" to the reality of having to work for a living(if she actually does), or possibly she is a CEO herself.
I know that the financial reports are not written in Braille ,but you could get someone to read them to you ....then you could " see" how the real world works.
I've been actively working in industry for over 32 years and have seen ALOT of crap going on usually inflicted by the so called "higher powers " you know.... CEO's
I'm still amazed how they are still amused by the musical chair games!
I've seen Ceo's of PULP AND PAPER companys suddenly become CEO's of HEALTH CARE! others became CEO'S at HEaVY EQUIPMENT companys ....I must say....they REALLY ARE experts in all levels of industry.....SO IMPRESSIVE! (just too bad they usually know NOTHING about the industry they become the heads of.)