Washington, Aug 27: The typical chief executive of a major US company earned 3.7 million dollars last year, with the largest paychecks going to those whose firms had the most worker layoffs, under-funded pensions and tax breaks, a new report has showed. Chief executive officers at the 50 corporations that announced the largest layoffs in 2001 saw their pay rise 44 per cent in 2002 - a year when overall CEO salaries rose six per cent, said the report by Research and Advocacy Groups Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy yesterday.

"All told, the top 50 job-cutting CEOs pulled down more than 570 million dollars in 2002, the year after they collectively slashed over 465,000 jobs," it said.

At the 30 companies with the greatest shortfall in their employees` pension funds, chief executives made 59 per cent more than the average CEO, added the report, the tenth in an annual series. "Meanwhile, many companies are protecting executives with guaranteed golden retirement packages," it said.

At the 25 major companies with the most subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, chief executives garnered an average of 26.5 million dollars in pay between 2000 and 2002, compared with an average of 14.2 million dollars for all CEOs at the 365 largest US companies surveyed annually by Business Week magazine, the report said.


Overall, average chief executive earnings rose 279 per cent between 1990 and 2002, far outstripping the Standard and Poor`s 500 stock index, which rose 166 per cent during that time, and corporate profits, which increased by 93 per cent.

Bureau Report