Energy has the narrowest pay gaps in the S&P 500 and pays the highest median wages of any sector. It also generates so much profit per worker that those wages represent a smaller share than almost anywhere else.
On the headline measure, Energy looks like the fairest sector in the index. Its median pay ratio of 81:1 is the narrowest of any industry, less than half the index median of 196:1, and its median worker pay of $162,405 is the highest. No company in the sector exceeds 308:1, a figure that would be unremarkable in Consumer Discretionary.
This is the sector that best demonstrates why one measure is not enough.
Oil and gas producers employ petroleum engineers, geoscientists, drilling specialists and skilled operators. There is no low-wage population anywhere in the workforce, so the median sits high and the ratio compresses. The narrowest gaps in the sector all pair a high median with a modest package:
The widest gaps belong to the oilfield services companies rather than the producers. Baker Hughes tops the sector at 308:1, and its median of $68,720 is the lowest in the industry by a distance, because services companies employ large field workforces across many countries, including lower-cost markets. Halliburton at 206:1 on an $88,698 median follows the same pattern, as does Schlumberger at 125:1 across 109,000 employees, the largest headcount in the sector.
The supermajors sit in between. ExxonMobil at 208:1 on a median of $183,084 and Chevron at 189:1 on $152,970 both pay extremely well and both have three-year average CEO compensation, at $38.0 million and $29.0 million, that is substantial without being exceptional for companies of that size. ExxonMobil is the sector's largest profit generator at $32.8 billion.
Energy's median profit per employee is $476,467, more than double the next highest sector and roughly fifteen times Consumer Discretionary's. The top of the distribution is extraordinary:
| Company | Profit per employee | Median worker pay | Employees | Pay ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Pacific LandTPL | $3,947,368 | $162,405 | 114 | 41:1 |
| EOG ResourcesEOG | $1,861,765 | $225,792 | 3,400 | 71:1 |
| Diamondback EnergyFANG | $1,538,025 | $168,095 | 1,762 | 64:1 |
| Devon EnergyDVN | $1,404,545 | $189,700 | 2,200 | 46:1 |
| ConocoPhillipsCOP | $949,495 | $212,063 | 9,900 | 106:1 |
Texas Pacific Land generates nearly $4 million of profit per employee. Its workers are paid $162,405, a good wage in absolute terms, and about 4% of what each of them is associated with producing. EOG pays $225,792 against $1.86 million per head.
This is the entire argument for Fair500's second measure. Judged on the CEO pay gap alone, these are among the fairest companies in America. Judged on how much of the profit each worker generates actually reaches that worker, they are among the least generous, not because the wages are bad, but because the surplus is so large that even good wages are a small slice of it.
The honest caveat. Profit per employee in extraction is a statement about capital, not labour. An oil producer's earnings come from reserves and drilling infrastructure; the small technical workforce operates assets worth billions. It would be wrong to read "$3.9 million of profit per employee" as a claim that each employee personally generated that. What the measure captures is that in capital-intensive industries, the returns flow to capital, which is a real and important fact about how the economy distributes income, and one that the pay ratio alone completely misses. More on this here.
Energy is one of only two sectors, along with Utilities, in which every company averaged a profit across the three-year window. Given the volatility of commodity prices, this reflects the particular period the window covers rather than any structural stability.
| Company | Pay ratio | Median worker pay | CEO pay (3-yr avg) | Profit (3-yr avg) | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker HughesBKR | 308:1 | $68,720 | $21.1M | $2.5B | 56,000 |
| ExxonMobilXOM | 208:1 | $183,084 | $38.0M | $32.8B | 57,900 |
| HalliburtonHAL | 206:1 | $88,698 | $18.3M | $2.1B | 46,000 |
| Chevron CorporationCVX | 189:1 | $152,970 | $29.0M | $17.1B | 43,039 |
| Phillips 66PSX | 136:1 | $159,592 | $21.7M | $4.5B | 12,600 |
| SchlumbergerSLB | 125:1 | $140,734 | $17.6M | $4.0B | 109,000 |
| Valero EnergyVLO | 121:1 | $211,035 | $25.6M | $4.7B | 9,811 |
| Targa ResourcesTRGP | 115:1 | $147,880 | $17.1M | $1.5B | 3,570 |
| ConocoPhillipsCOP | 106:1 | $212,063 | $22.4M | $9.4B | 9,900 |
| Kinder MorganKMI | 89:1 | $135,175 | $12.1M | $2.7B | 11,028 |
| EQT CorporationEQT | 81:1 | $155,823 | $12.6M | $1.3B | 1,523 |
| Occidental PetroleumOXY | 80:1 | $225,637 | $18.1M | $3.4B | n/a |
| Marathon PetroleumMPC | 75:1 | $186,132 | $14.0M | $5.7B | 18,500 |
| EOG ResourcesEOG | 71:1 | $225,792 | $16.1M | $6.3B | 3,400 |
| OneokOKE | 67:1 | $174,009 | $11.6M | $3.0B | 6,326 |
| Diamondback EnergyFANG | 64:1 | $168,095 | $10.7M | $2.7B | 1,762 |
| APA CorporationAPA | 54:1 | $237,527 | $12.8M | $1.7B | 1,791 |
| Devon EnergyDVN | 46:1 | $189,700 | $8.6M | $3.1B | 2,200 |
| Williams CompaniesWMB | 43:1 | $143,269 | $6.2M | $2.7B | 5,987 |
| Texas Pacific Land CorporationTPL | 41:1 | $162,405 | $6.6M | $0.5B | 114 |
| Expand EnergyEXE | 29:1 | $158,503 | $4.5M | $1.2B | 1,600 |