CEO pay has grown from 21 times typical worker pay in 1965 to 281 times in 2024, while worker compensation has risen only 26% over the past 46 years despite 80% productivity growth. The data directly refutes trickle-down economics—CEO wealth concentration has accelerated dramatically while workers have been left behind. This is a straightforward factual claim backed by decades of Economic Policy Institute research on the top 350 U.S. firms.