The bosses of the most important firms within the UK can have earned extra money within the first 5 days of 2023 than a mean employee within the nation does over all the yr, in line with a brand new evaluation.
Earlier than 2pm on Thursday afternoon, the CEOs on the UK’s 100 largest firms – listed on the FTSE 100 – would have banked a mean of £33,000 since New 12 months’s Day, in line with calculations from the Excessive Pay Centre, a suppose tank that campaigns for fairer pay for staff.
In accordance with knowledge from the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics and the monetary stories of publicly listed firms, that’s the quantity a mean employee within the UK earned throughout 2022.
It means the highest bosses would have earned greater than a mean UK employee’s full time annual wage simply inside 5 days of 2023 and third day of the markets earlier than the index closes at 4.30pm.
The evaluation comes amid rising issues about the price of dwelling, and after a pledge by Rishi Sunak to halve inflation.
The analysis additionally finds that FTSE 100 bosses will overtake the UK median worker some 9 working hours sooner than they did in 2022, pointing to a rising pay hole.
The median FTSE 100 CEO pay at present stands at £3.41 million, 103 instances the median full time employee’s pay of £33,000, HPC analysis exhibits.
And regardless of the rising price of dwelling there was a 39 per cent improve on median CEO pay ranges since January 2022, whereas the median employee’s pay has solely elevated by 6 per cent over the identical interval.
“Within the worst financial circumstances that most individuals can bear in mind, it’s troublesome to consider {that a} handful of high earners are nonetheless raking in such extraordinary quantities of cash,” Excessive Pay Centre director Luke Hildyard mentioned.
“The UK financial system actually can’t afford for such an enormous share of the wealth that’s created by all staff to be captured by such a tiny variety of individuals on the high.”
The stark distinction within the revenue hole can also be seen when firms within the FTSE 250 are taken into consideration.
Prime executives within the 350 largest firms, together with the hundred largest listed on the FTSE 100 and 250 listed on the FTSE 250, have a mean pay of £1.33m and can solely must work until 11 January for his or her pay to overhaul the annual pay of a mean UK employee.
Whereas CEOs at huge firms will outearn a mean UK employee throughout the first few days of January, the analysis additionally exhibits everybody within the high 1 per cent of full time UK earners, making not less than £145k, can have overtaken the annual pay of the median full time employee by 23 March.
Union staff and organisations advocating for honest pay have lengthy demanded salaries for high executives be capped and for the divide between a mean employee and high government to be bridged.