Employers Shift Retirement Risk to Workers as CEO-to-Worker Pay Hits 281-to-1 by 2024
Updated
Updated · Forbes · May 31
Employers Shift Retirement Risk to Workers as CEO-to-Worker Pay Hits 281-to-1 by 2024
1 articles · Updated · Forbes · May 31
Only 15% of private industry workers had access to guaranteed retirement benefits by March 2023, while 67% relied on defined-contribution plans, underscoring how employers moved retirement risk onto employees.
That shift followed decades of benefit retrenchment: private workers in defined-benefit plans fell from 38% in 1980 to 20% in 2008, while defined-contribution-only participation rose from 8% to 31%.
CEO compensation widened the contrast, climbing from about 21 times typical worker pay in 1965 to 281-to-1 in 2024 as companies prioritized shareholder returns and market pressures.
Miles Everson of MBO Partners argues those choices rewrote the employer-employee social contract, making weaker loyalty, lower discretionary effort and greater job-hopping a rational response.
The broader takeaway is that a paycheck alone no longer secures commitment when workers increasingly see employment as a transactional relationship rather than a long-term mutual investment.
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