After the succession of family feasts and gift-giving of the festive period and the cork-popping finale to see in the new year, now is normally a time of tightening belts and saving ahead of a year that promises more of the inflationary hardship seen last year. Not so for CEOs of the UK's largest listed companies, who managed to earn the nation's median annual wages in just three days.
The CEOs of the UK's largest listed companies aggregated in the FTSE 100, have already earned as much as the UK median wage after three working days in 2023. The remarkable statistic is the result of analysis by the High Pay Centre, a British think tank specializing in income inequality.
Moreover, it seems that the divide between rich and poor is gaping ever-wider, as the total of 30 working hours to earn the national average is nine less than that needed to earn the median in 2022. Not only the financial hub of the UK, the City of London is a centre for international trading and companies and accommodates some of the highest-paid professionals in the world.
Corporate lawyers of the City can expect to earn the UK median wage within 10 working days; bankers will reach that milestone on 20 January.
The calculations are based on information that the listed companies themselves publish about the salaries they pay. This data is compared with the official statistics on wages in the United Kingdom.
A CEO of a British listed company earns around £3.41 million pounds a year (€3.86 million), VRT reports. This is more than a hundred times the median wage, which is £33,000 pounds (€37,300) for a full-time British worker.
Post-Covid boom
Commenting on the findings, analysts pointed to a growth in the highest salaries in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic at the same time as most wages were stagnating as economies cooled and numerous sectors struggled to get going again.
With inflation in the UK currently around 11%, many businesses and individuals are feeling the pressure as consumption drops and prices rise to once-in-a-generation heights.
Strikes have been seen across the country as public sector professions, such as nurses and train operators, have seen their real-term wages dramatically undermined by the rising cost of living.
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Even within the public sector, differences in pay growth between the highest and lowest-paid have grown markedly. Citing the police service, Iain Overton in the Byline Times points out that the starting salary of a junior constable ten years ago was £22,318 whilst a Chief Inspector started on £49,693. 'Since then, the constable’s wage has increased by £5,800 while the Inspector’s has gone up by £10,514.'
The High Pay Centre hopes that the revelation will expose the unsustainable unfairness within the UK's economy and lead to a more equitable distribution of wages.
