Despite income inequality fight, you should celebrate CEO pay raises

The conversation about the wage gap between workers and CEOs is back in the news. The Seattle Times highlights the fact that Northwest CEOs are experiencing raises at a time when inequality is rising.

In fact, CEO pay rose by 23 percent last year – at least that of publicly traded companies. That represents an average paycheck of $3.59 million.

I guess we’re supposed to be shocked by this, maybe even outraged. That’s what the Times seems to want with a headline like, “As pay raises increase for Northwest CEOs, so does income inequality”. We shouldn’t be shocked or outraged. For one, Washington has a strong economy; King County is seeing great increases due to the tech and aviation industries. When individual companies do really well, usually the CEOs – the actual business leaders – see an increase in pay.

Related: They asked for a higher wage, but now they want fewer hours

When individual workers do better, they also see an increase in pay (unless they’re low-skilled jobs). The data points this out. Computer programming saw a 29 percent higher salary between 2010 and 2014. Construction workers saw a 17 percent salary bump, plumbers a 10.49 percent bump, nurses a 9 percent bump and administrative assistants a 7.74 percent bump. In fact, the Times reports that “the average annual wage for all workers in the Seattle area increased 8 percent to $59,130 from 2011 to 2014, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

Yet the Times points out in their title that income inequality is rising, but they don’t really address it in the article in any meaningful way. They just pull the pin from the grenade and toss it into the room and flee; but it’s a meaningless point they point.

Income inequality impacts low-skilled workers. CEOs aren’t low skilled workers. You look at the high-skilled workers &#8212 the lawyers, the plumbers, the programmers, the nurses, even administrative assistants (who are being asked to do a lot more now) &#8212 they’re all seeing an increase in pay.

This shouldn’t be a story about the laborer vs the CEO. This is a story about how more skills pay off.

Related: Complaints over state lawmaker pay raise are petty

When low-skilled workers complain about the minimum wage, understand it’s because the job they have is not worth that much. It’s not that the worker is worthless; it’s that your job only has so much value. It’s why you’re being paid the minimum wage. You need the least amount of skills necessary to get the job done. Your skills aren’t worth much because anyone can learn them.

This should be yet another wake-up call to fight for more skills (not more wages) and to exploit those skills to get a better position with a higher paycheck, either in the company or elsewhere.