Fred Redmond, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast on the Friday before Labor Day 2026 to discuss the AFL-CIO's recently released Executive Paywatch report.
Redmond said the report found that in 2025, S&P 500 CEOs received an average of $22.8 million in total compensation, a 21 percent increase from the prior year's average of $18.9 million. If Elon Musk's $158.3 billion Tesla compensation package was included, it would push the average to $340.1 million — approximately 1,700 percent higher than the previous year and the highest figure in Paywatch history.
The AFL-CIO had to add more digits to its Paywatch database to accommodate Musk's pay. The ratio of Musk's compensation to the median Tesla worker's pay is 2,522,203 to 1. Excluding Musk, the average S&P 500 CEO-to-worker pay ratio is 312-to-1. Redmond said the workers’ share of U.S. national income in 2025 fell to its lowest level since World War II. Other signs of distress include that 16 percent of adults cannot pay their bills in full, nearly one in four renters has fallen behind on rent, and a third of adults have no retirement savings, he added.
Redmond said working people are fed up, but heading into Labor Day, the labor movement is genuinely optimistic about its goal of adding 2 million new members over the next five years, which he described as a floor, not a ceiling.
- The AFL-CIO's 2025 Executive Paywatch report, published annually since 1997, found average S&P 500 CEO compensation of $22.8 million, excluding Elon Musk, a 21 percent increase over the prior year's $18.9 million. Including Musk's $158.3 billion Tesla pay package, the average rose to $340.1 million, approximately 1,700 percent higher than the prior year and the highest in Paywatch history. The database had to be expanded to accommodate Musk's figure, and the AFL-CIO published two separate CEO pay ratios because his compensation was so far outside the range of any other executive. The ratio of Musk's pay to the median Tesla worker’s pay is 2,522,203 to 1, while the average S&P 500 CEO-to-worker pay ratio, excluding Musk, is 312 to 1.
- Workers’ share of U.S. national income fell to its lowest level since World War II last year, even as the stock market reached record highs. Employees working full-time at large employers, including Amazon, Dollar Tree, FedEx, McDonald's and Walmart, are among the top recipients of Medicaid and SNAP. Looking at the American workforce in general found more signs of economic distress. This included 16 percent of adults who cannot pay their bills in full, 26 percent of adults skipped medical care due to cost, 23 percent of renters have fallen behind on rent in the past year, 49 percent of adults under 30 live with a parent and 33 percent of adults have no retirement savings.
- The AFL-CIO's goal to recruit 2 million new union members in the next five years, announced at the June 2026 convention, is being considered a floor rather than a ceiling, but achieving it may require labor law reform, restructuring of the U.S. Department of Labor, greater protection for workers who want to organize and restoration of worker safety enforcement. Redmond said public support for unions is at a decades-long high and working people are channeling their anger about the economy into the labor movement rather than away from it.
The AFL-CIO Paywatch Report: Numbers That Broke the Database
Fred Redmond has been tracking the gap between CEO pay and worker pay since well before the AFL-CIO began publishing its Executive Paywatch report in 1997. He remembers when CEO pay first climbed to around 28 times the average worker's wage in the early 1980s – a disparity the labor movement considered astronomical. The 2025 Paywatch report makes that number look modest.
S&P 500 CEOs received an average of $22.8 million in total compensation last year, up from $18.9 million in 2024, a 21 percent increase. That figure does not include Elon Musk. When Musk's $158.3 billion Tesla compensation package is added, the average for S&P 500 CEOs jumps to $340.1 million, approximately 1,700 percent higher than the prior year and the highest figure in the 28-year history of the Paywatch database. The AFL-CIO had to expand the database itself to accommodate Musk's number, Redmond said. The result was a decision to publish two separate CEO pay ratios: one including Musk and one excluding him, because his compensation was so far outside the range of any other executive. Combining them in a single figure would distort the picture of what is happening across the rest of the S&P 500, Redmond added.
The ratio of Musk's pay to the median Tesla worker's pay is $2,522,203 for Musk to every $1 the average Tesla worker makes. Excluding Musk, the average S&P 500 CEO-to-worker pay ratio is 312-to-1.
Redmond said it is a number you almost think must be fictional, but it is not.
What That Money Represents
Redmond did not let the Paywatch numbers remain mere statistics. He connected them to what is happening to workers on the other end of the ratio. Workers' share of U.S. national income fell to its lowest level since World War II last year, despite the stock market reaching record highs. Employees working full-time at large employers, including Amazon, Dollar Tree, FedEx, McDonald's and Walmart, are among the top recipients of Medicaid and SNAP. Many people who go to work every day to support their families rely on public assistance programs to bridge the gap between what they earn and what they need.
The figures from the report reinforce the picture. Roughly 16 percent of adults cannot pay their bills in full, while 26 percent of adults skipped medical care in the past year due to cost. Among renters, 23 percent have fallen behind on rent in the past year, and 49 percent of adults under 30 live with a parent. Finally, 33 percent of adults have no retirement savings.
These are not signs of a healthy economy, Redmond said. They are signs of an economy that has been shaped, deliberately and over time, to concentrate wealth at the top while shifting the cost of living onto the people doing the work.
The Political Economy Behind the Numbers
Redmond also connected the Paywatch findings to the political environment. Musk personally donated $291 million to Donald Trump's reelection campaign, making him the largest campaign contributor of the 2024 cycle. Political spending by billionaires more than doubled from the 2020 election cycle to 2024. Musk's super PACs have already committed at least $100 million to the 2026 midterm elections. And Musk is not the only billionaire who has captured political influence and reaped the policy rewards that followed.
The Paywatch report also documents that 2025 was a remarkable year for President Trump personally. Federal disclosure forms show Trump received $2.2 billion in income in 2025 after returning to the White House, a 254 percent increase over 2024, including $1.4 billion from the sale of $TRUMP memecoins and his family's cryptocurrency business. A worker earning the U.S. median annual wage would need to work 43,154 years to earn what Trump received in 2025. The current political and economic environment looks different for the people at the top versus the people doing the work, Redmond said.
Redmond highlighted a situation involving Tesla in Sweden as an example of how billionaire power plays out on the shop floor. Tesla workers in Sweden went on strike for more than 1,000 days over collective bargaining. Rather than negotiate, Musk bought out the workers. The same dynamic plays out across the economy wherever workers have tried to organize and found employers willing to spend whatever it costs to keep unions out.
What the AFL-CIO Is Calling For
Redmond was careful to frame the AFL-CIO's position accurately. The federation is not against billionaires or millionaires. It is not against people doing well or enjoying the fruits of their labor. What it opposes is the use of tax loopholes, political spending and regulatory influence to avoid paying a fair share for the systems that keep the country functioning. A billionaire tax is needed, he said. The tax code needs reform. Eliminating the earnings cap on Social Security contributions is a practical, common-sense step toward securing the program and ensuring its costs are shared more fairly, he added. Tesla, notably, paid zero in U.S. federal income taxes in 2025 on $5.68 billion in adjusted income, a result of tax breaks that include provisions signed into law by the Trump administration, Redmond said.
The solution to the broader pay gap runs through the labor movement and through electing leaders who put workers before profits, Redmond said. He pointed to the Congressional Labor Caucus and the model New Jersey established decades ago of training union members to run for office at every level. Those efforts need to keep growing.
The Goal: 2 Million New Members and a Bright Future
Redmond closed with genuine optimism for the Labor Day weekend. The AFL-CIO announced at its June 2026 convention a goal of bringing 2 million new members into the labor movement over the next five years, and he stressed his belief that it is the floor, not the ceiling.
AFL-CIO polling shows public support for unions at levels not seen in decades, with working people consistently identifying the labor movement as the most effective vehicle for addressing income inequality. The organizing energy at companies like Starbucks and Amazon demonstrates that workers in sectors the movement has not traditionally reached are ready to act.
Redmond believes adding 2 million union members and beyond requires labor law reform, a restructured and functional U.S. Department of Labor, protection from retaliation for workers who want to organize and a restored commitment to worker safety enforcement. Working people are angry and fed up. They are channeling that energy into the movement, which Redmond said is a very good sign.
Listeners can review the full Paywatch report and search CEO-to-worker pay ratios for individual companies at paywatch.org. More information on the AFL-CIO is available at aflcio.org.
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