As many Macy’s workers struggle to survive on low pay and insufficient schedules to qualify for health care, Macy’s executives are doing quite well.

A few weeks ago, Macy’s Inc. CEO Terry Lundgren and ten other Macy’s executives received a handsome payout in the form of 727,000 shares of performance restricted stocks. Macy’s paid more than $11 million to Lundgren and ten other executives collected more than $14.4 million in the form of performance restricted stock units.

The retail sector is the largest industry by employment in the United States, and retail jobs are setting the working and living standards for thousands of American workers.  That’s why it’s critically important that Macy’s and other employers in this industry compensate workers with the kind of pay and benefits that allow them to live in the middle class.

Academic studies, including a recent report by Demos, provide quantitative evidence that retailers, workers and the U.S. economy can benefit if retail companies invest in their workforce.  According to the Demos report, raising wages for full-time retail workers at the nation’s largest retail companies (those employing at least 1,000 workers) would result in improving the lives of more than 1.5 million retail workers and their families who are currently living in or hovering above poverty.

For more information about Macy’s executives and their generous stock options, visit http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/03/04/macys-execs-get-millions-in-stock.html.