There's a new report out that basically confirms what a lot of people already suspect: the people at the top are doing great, and everyone else is kind of stuck. The International Trade Union Confederation and Oxfam crunched the numbers on CEO pay across 1,500 big companies in 33 countries, and the picture is stark. CEO compensation in real terms — that's after inflation — went up 11% last year. Worker wages? Up 0.5%. So the top dogs saw their pay rise 20 times faster than the average worker. Oof.

The report puts average CEO pay at $8.4 million in 2025, up from $7.6 million the year before. To put that in perspective, a typical worker would need to work 490 years to earn what a CEO makes in one year. That's not a typo. Four hundred ninety years. You'd have to start working around the time of the Renaissance to catch up.

In the U.S., the gap is even more dramatic. For 384 S&P 500 CEOs with available data, pay surged 25.6% between 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, real average hourly earnings for private-sector workers increased just 1.3%. So CEO pay grew about 20 times faster than worker wages here too. That's the kind of math that makes you wonder if the economy is working for everyone or just a select few.

The report also highlights how extreme the top end has become. At least four CEOs at major companies collected more than $100 million in pay and bonuses for 2025. Broadcom's Hock Tan led the pack at over $205 million. The top 10 highest-paid CEOs together exceeded $1 billion. That's a billion with a B.

This isn't just about paychecks, though. It's about wealth concentration. By 2024, the top 10% of U.S. households held 93% of stocks, up from 81% in 2013. So when the stock market rallies — and it has been — those gains mostly flow to people who already have a lot. The bottom half of households? They collectively hold just 2.5% of total household wealth. Meanwhile, just 19 U.S. families control about 1.8% of all household wealth. That's a tiny group with an outsized slice of the pie.

This kind of concentration can make the economy fragile. Consumer spending is a huge driver of growth, but if most of that spending comes from people with significant assets, what happens if they tighten their belts? Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell raised that exact point at a press conference in December 2025. "Most of the consumption does happen by people who have more means… So it's a good question how sustainable that is," he said. Good question indeed.

Oxfam's report also looks at the longer-term trend. Global real wages have fallen 12% since 2019, even as CEO pay rose in real terms. The group frames that decline as workers effectively providing 108 days of unpaid labor over 2019 to 2025, including 31 days last year alone. That's a lot of free work.

Public sentiment reflects this strain. A Guardian poll cited in the report found that nearly half of Americans say their financial security is getting worse. That's despite stock-market records and GDP growth. The disconnect is real.

Some economists argue that the "K-shaped" label — where the top branch goes up and the bottom goes down — misses a demographic driver. Market strategist Ed Yardeni calls the economy "gen-shaped," pointing to Baby Boomers' $84.5 trillion in wealth. "Many of the low-income consumers who are struggling financially are in the Gen Z cohort, who are the children of the Baby Boomers and the Gen X cohort," he says. Older generations are providing support, which helps explain why spending hasn't collapsed entirely.

Spending patterns do vary by income. Higher earners are still buying services, travel, and discretionary goods. Lower earners are shifting budgets toward essentials, using Buy Now, Pay Later plans and running up credit card balances just to get by. That consumer strain has even entered policy discussions. President Donald Trump has floated a 10% cap on credit card interest rates, which could reduce borrowing costs for some but might also lead lenders to tighten access for riskier borrowers.

Finally, the report highlights how shareholder payouts reinforce the wealth at the top. Nearly 1,000 identified billionaires received $79 billion in dividends in 2025 — about $2,500 per second. That includes $3.8 billion for Bernard Arnault of LVMH and $3.7 billion for Amancio Ortega of Inditex. When companies return cash to shareholders, a huge chunk goes to the already-wealthy, widening the gap even further.

So the K-shaped economy isn't just a metaphor. It's a data point. And the data says the gap is getting wider.