David Novak, the CEO of YUM! Brands, which owns Taco Bell and KFC, took home more than $22 million last year after exercising stock options, according to proxy statements. The average full-time fast-food worker, by comparison, would have made about $19,000 on the year. [...]
The CEO-to-worker pay ratio at YUM! is just one example of the yawning income inequality found throughout the fast food industry, according to a new report from Demos, the progressive think tank, entitled "Fast Food Failure: How the CEO-to Worker Pay Disparity Undermines the Industry and the Overall Economy."
"It's true in many industries but fast food is the primary example: The gains from economic growth are being entirely awarded to people at the top of the income scale," Catherine Ruetschlin, author of the report, told HuffPost. "It's not a surprising finding that it's the worst industry within the worst sector, because that's where we're seeing the cracks forming."
Read the report: Fast Food Failure: How CEO-to-Worker Pay Disparity Undermines the Industry and the Overall Economy