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How many c-suite executives are there in the commercial sector in the US and Canada?
Hello! Thanks for your question about the number of c-suite executives in the commercial sector of the US and Canada. The short version is that the US has more than 100,000 top executives and Canada has just over 50,000 senior managers. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
After an extensive search, I was able to find some general information on the number of c-suite executives in the US and Canada. I searched Google for the following terms "List c-suites the US", "List c-suites Canada", "C-suite data US", "C-suite data Canada", "Total c-suites US", "Total c-suites Canada", and so on. I was able to find the general information using this method. However, it proved quite difficult to find information on the number of c-suite executives broken down by title, for example, Chairman, CEO, CFO, CIO, CSO and so on. I found that the top three c-suites, based on the importance of their role in the organization, are CEO's, COO's, and CFO's. Based on this information, I decided to search for the "Top" CEO's, CFO's, and COO's in each country. In doing so I was able to gather some information on the top c-suites in these categories including names and ranking. I used this information to supplement the limited data that I found.
It also proved to be difficult to find the most recent information on the number of c-suites in the US and Canada. As a result, some information includes data that dates as far back as 2014. You will also note that some statistics for the same topic will vary quite considerably. While this information may be conflicting, I thought it would be best to include it in this response based on the lack of information on this particular subject.
FINDINGS
1. C-suites in the US
According to The New York Times, the 200 highest-paid chief executives in American business had combined earnings of at least $1 billion in 2016. ExecRanks.com ranked 2014's top 226 COO's across 124 industries and 50+ professions based on statistical and algorithmic analysis of executive performance across 24 key areas. Based on the same criteria used to rank the top COO's, ExecRanks.com also ranked 2016's top 250 CFO's. In 2015, an estimated 1,733,100 general and operations managers and an estimated 400,400 chief executives were employed in the US. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of May 2016, the management occupations accounted for a total of 449,520 employees in the US, 105,720 were top executives, 19,310 were chief executives, and 86,410 were general and operations managers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industries with the highest levels of chief executive employment are as follows:
The industries with the highest concentration of chief executive employment are as follows:
- Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works): employment 270, which is 1.17% of industry employment
- Management of Companies and Enterprises: employment 19,310, which is 0.84% of industry employment.
2. C-suites in Canada
In 2016, Canada's top 100 highest-paid CEO's took home 193 times what an average Canadian worker did. According to the Canadian labor force survey, there are an estimated 1,614,000 management occupations in the country and 51,000 senior management occupations. Of the senior management occupations, the categories are legislators, senior government and officials, and senior management business sector. There are no further details.
POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL AVENUES FOR RESEARCH
In understanding what types of information are and are not publicly available on this topic, may I suggest looking on sites that could be behind a paywall. For example, the Report on Business' Top 1000 CEO, CFO & COO Compensation Report could be a good source of information.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, there is currently not enough information available that provides data on the number of c-suite executives in the US and Canada's commercial sector. Based on the data found, the US has more than 100,000 top executives and Canada has just over 50,000 senior managers.
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