CEO Pay: Average S&P 500 Chief Took Home $9.25 Million Last Year (CHART)

CEO Pay: Average S&P 500 Chief Took Home $9.25 Million Last Year (CHART)

One of the nation's largest unions is taking aim at CEO pay.

Vowing to keep tabs on the country's largest companies, the AFL-CIO today launched
PayWatch.com, a website meant to track executive pay at the country's largest companies and monitor Wall Street lobbying.

According to the site, CEOs at the 292 S&P 500 companies for which there are data available were paid $9.25 million on average last year (including salary, bonus, stock, options and benefits), down 9 percent overall from the year prior.

In addition to an executive pay database, PayWatch.com comprises case studies and analysis of executive pay, coverage of Wall Street lobbying against reform and information about what interested citizens can do to get involved.

Plotting figures from the Institute for Policy Studies, PayWatch.com notes that in 2008 chief executives at S&P 500 companies were paid an incredible 319 times more than the average worker. But the 2008 ratio, while stunning, is down from the 525x peak in 2000 -- though still vastly higher than the discrepancy in 1980, when company heads made about 42 times the average worker's pay.

Check out the AFL-CIO's chart below:

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