Average Pay versus Amount of Work in the US Corporate System

[Corporate Gain]

After working in and supporting the corporate machine for nearly a decade I have seen all kinds of levels of success and failure. As I work in the I.T. field it is easy to see huge areas of dysfunction and unbalance in companies that other areas of the business may be unaware of just because of the nature of our work.

I have come to the conclusion that in the majority of US-based corporations there is a point in climbing that pay grade and status ladder within your career where the amount of work usually doesn't match the amount of pay you receive. What I mean is after a certain level of status and title you get paid a lot to do very little, whereas those who get paid less end up working much more. Now that is not always the case - sometimes there are very high paying individuals in the capitalist machine that work just as hard as someone making a fraction of what they do. 
But normally what I've seen is if you're the CEO, President or VP of a big company you'll probably be spending more time on vacation than actually doing real work and your pay is much higher than your minion underlings.

Below is my of rough idea of the amount of work vs. pay from my personal experience.  You may have a different opinion or experience than me though.

Pay/Work Ratio Chart:

*Low Pay - Hovering around Minimum Wage
*Low-Mid Pay - $10-$12 per hour
*Mid Pay - $16-$25 per hour
(↑Here exists the gap between the majority of the middle and upper class↓)
*High Pay - $60+ per hour

I must note that the numbers at the bottom of my graph don't really represent specific data or amounts, but rather just a visual range that makes it easy to understand my ideology on the matter. Also the Pay/Work Ratio wage amounts reflect an overall average in the U.S., as I understand that specific geographic areas may consider certain pay-grades low or high within the different socioeconomic classes.

I, myself have been sitting in what I consider the Low-Mid to Mid Pay range for the duration of my IT career and for the most part my work loads have definitely been on the higher end of the average. Everyone has different experiences in the US corporate machine, but I feel that for the most part these are universal truths...