If Lowes, Home Depot, and CVS each reallocated the money spent on buybacks in 2015 - 2017 to workers, each worker would receive a raise of at least $18,000 per year.

“The top spenders on buybacks in retail are Home Depot, Walmart, CVS, Lowe’s, and Target. On average, these companies spent 87 percent of their net profits on buybacks, and they could pay the median worker in their respective companies an average of 56 percent more each year. The average ratio of CEO pay to median worker compensation among these companies is 587 to 1—with average CEO total compensation at over $13 million.”