By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters – In 2021 the pay gap between employees and CEOs in 300 U.S. public companies at the lowest median salary jumped, according to a study by the Institute for Policy Studies http://ips.dc.org (IPS).

The study found that the average gap increased to 670:1, from 604:1, and 49 companies had ratios over 1,000. Median CEO compensation in the study rose from $2.5 to $10.6 million while median workers’ salaries rose by $3,556 and $23,968.

These findings will provide investors with new ammunition for promoting social justice causes in their environment, governance (ESG) agenda.

This year has seen a record number of shareholder resolutions related to ESG in the United States. One of these issues is the worker’s treatment.

“During the pandemic, low-wage workers have demonstrated how essential they are to the functioning of our economy. Corporations had the opportunity to take a huge leap toward greater equity in pay, with profits increasing by 2021,” stated Sarah Anderson, Global Economy Program Director at IPS.

According to the study, the median employee pay in 106 companies failed to match the 4.7% U.S. inflation rate during the same period. That group included 67 businesses that spent $43.7 billion in share buybacks during the study period. This helped to boost CEOs’ stock-based salaries.

Responding to this, workers are increasingly taking control of their lives and seeking out better work conditions and pay.

PwC conducted a global survey in March and found that 55% of employees were “extremely” (or “very likely”) to move employers over the next 12 month.

Investors are paying more attention to how companies treat staff because of the COVID-19 epidemic. However, some have resisted opposing managers on these issues at Amazon’s annual meeting.