In a recently released research document, Oxfam stated that major United States companies contribute to global inequality.
The charity said, “The largest US corporations have been driving the inequality crisis, actively concentrating power and money in the hands of wealthy CEOs and shareholders while limiting the power of workers, influencing our politics, avoiding taxes, and accelerating climate change.”
Oxfams corporate research
Oxfam’s research document analyzes two hundred of the top United States public corporations across seventy-eight different indicators. The research reportedly shows that the companies assessed are:
Extracting more money for already wealthy shareholders
- Stiffing workers amidst corporate bonanzas
- Reinforcing gender and racial inequality in the workplace
- Worsening inequality through tax avoidance
- Deepening the political divide
- Putting profits over planet
The charity found that CEOs pay outstrips the wages of an average worker by 1500/1, and only ten of the two hundred companies (5% of the companies reviewed by Oxfam) have made any announcements about paying a living wage.
Companies like Walgreens and McDonalds have seen salaries decline to pre-2022 levels, with the document showing that Retail and Food and Beverage companies have the lowest median salaries (below $20,000).
Since 2018, CEO pay has more than tripled, according to the report, with the top technology companies like “Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, Oracle, Blackstone, and KKR” paying their leading executives an average salary of $100 million plus.
Will the Oxfam document be able to effect change?
The document calls for changes in business policies and practices and suggests alternatives to the way major companies operate. Oxfam hopes to promote alternative ways of working that improve workers’ lives and pockets by focusing on healthier emissions targets and a better median living wage.
“Many of America’s largest companies are exacerbating economic and social inequality through their current practices, and few are taking action to improve long-term outcomes for their stakeholders, instead focusing on short-term reward to shareholders,” Oxfam would say in the “Way Forward” section of the document.
It remains to be seen if the leading lights of American corporate governance will take the report’s views on board, but Oxfam has made waves in the financial world with this stark look at what they believe needs to change for a brighter future for emissions and the fair allocation of wages to employees.
Image: Oxfam
