Dive Brief:

• With the disappearing middle class as a backdrop, CEOs at the largest U.S. employers had a good year in 2015, averaging a 4.5% pay raise – about twice the percentage of what other employees received, according to the Associated Press.
• The AP reports that a typical CEO in the Standard & Poor's 500 index made $10.8 million, including bonuses, stock awards and other compensation, according to a study by executive data firm Equilar (done for the AP).
• The raise for median CEO pay in 2015 was $468,449, more than 10 times what the typical U.S. worker earns annually. The median full-time worker earned $809 weekly in 2015, up from $791 in 2014.

Dive Insight

With this latest CEO pay data, the ongoing criticism about excessive CEO pay will undoubtedly continue. Even presidential candidates this year had some negative things to say, the AP notes.

For HR leaders, the job of serving their CEO as well as their workforce will continue to be a challenge. And then there is the upcoming Securities and Exchange Commission rule on the CEO pay ratio, which will make the job even tougher. In 2017, employers will have to begin showing how much more their CEOs make than their typical worker, which some HR professionals are concerned about.

After all, in the AP survey, most Americans believe CEOs average about $1 million in pay annually, which is way below the reality. And most Americans think they are overpaid, according to the Stanford research.