CareerJournal.com reports on US executive salaries

Executive salaries increased 5.9% last year,
according to economic research institute/careerjournal.com index

In 2002 the highest paid executives in America received an 5.9% increase in total cash compensation, according to the Executive Compensation Index figures released today by ERI Economic Research Institute and CareerJournal.com, The Wall
Street Journal's executive career site.

The study also found that executive compensation continued to grow faster than annual company revenues, which rose a meager 0.89% in 2002. This measurement can be used to determine an executive's value to stockholders.

Changing the way executive compensation is shown on proxies may have had an impact on the latest Executive Compensation Index figures. How much an executive earns depends largely on how stock options are valued, the most essential part of their compensation. Although accounting standards do not
require companies to expense stock options in the year they are granted, some companies have voluntarily done so, presumably in response to the change in the atmosphere of corporate accountability. According to 2002 proxies, some companies have included stock options into annual bonus figures, rather than breaking them out separately as they have done in the past.

Stock options give executives remarkable leverage, says Tony Lee, editor in chief of CareerJournal.com. When shares swing upward, executive rewards can outdistance those of investors. Salaries and bonuses, combined with
options, have changed the face of executive compensation.
The Executive Compensation Index tracks the total cash compensation (salary bonus) for the highest-paid executives at a cross section of 45 major U.S. businesses. The index (1997 = 100) stood at 168.9 for February 2002, compared with 178.9 for February 2003, an increase of 5.9%.
Notes ERI Director Dr. David Thomsen: The nearly 6% growth in executive pay during 2002 is much higher than the increase of 2.7% in middle-management cash compensation for 2002 and the rise of only 1.1% in rank-and-file ompensation that we see reported in our 2003/2004 Salary Planning Survey.

The Index results are compiled by ERI/CareerJournal.com each quarter and capture total cash compensation reported in the previous 12-month survey period.

The entire Economic Research Institute
(ERI)/CareerJournal.com Executive Cash Compensation Index and Report can be found on ERI's site at