The Top Paid CEOs are Also The Ones With The Highest Layoffs

With the current recession, it is easy to see how businesses are having to cut corners to stay in business. And laying off employees is one of the best ways that companies can save money, and they have been laying off workings in droves. The images of families who are unable to recover from the blow of losing their jobs is heartbreaking, but what makes it even worse is new research that suggests that 50 of the American companies who have laid off the most employees also have the dubious honor of having the highest CEO salaries this year.

Being the CEO of a company is a great responsibility, and I don't think that anyone would argue that they should be making more than everyone else, unless you are talking about pay in the area of the $24 million that the CEO of Hewlett Packard received. Yeah, if you are one of the 6,400 laid off employees, that has got to sting.

Here is a visual breakdown of the CEO salaries-

Image from MeettheBoss.tv

According to the Institute for Policy Study, the 50 firms that had the most layoffs also paid their CEOs 45% more than the average S&P 500 company. It is just shocking. For example, Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg received over $17 million while cutting back 21,308 employees. Michael Duke from WalMart got a little over $19 million for slashing 13,350 jobs.

The pay for executives is out of control and much higher than it was in previous decades and while the companies are complaining about low sales, low profits and cutting back, they are still living the high life. It just seems like there is a new corporate trend to squeeze workers in order to keep the high CEO compensation.

I think that there are many questions that need to be asked about who is responsible for overseeing CEO compensation.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.