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Fast-Food CEOs Make 1,000 Times More Than Their Workers

CBS MoneyWatch

Fast-food restaurants are serving up plenty of food for discussion in the debate over income inequality.

Fast-food chief executives take home $1,000 for every $1 dollar earned by their average workers, making it the most unequal sector within the U.S. economy, according to a new report from public policy group Demos.

While CEOs have always made more than the rank-and-file, the income disparity in the fast-food sector has become a gaping chasm. Since 2000, the average fast-food restaurant CEO has seen his pay more than quadruple. The average burger-flipper, meanwhile, has seen her income inch up 0.3 percent since 2000. 

That gap adds stress to the economy by holding down workers' purchase power, a problem in a country where consumers account for 70 percent of economic activity. Fast-food workers around the U.S. have staged numerous strikes over the last year to demand a higher minimum wage

Read the report: Fast Food Failure: How CEO-to-Worker Pay Disparity Undermines the Industry and the Overall Economy