Fact Service January 2021

Issue 1

Top CEOs ‘earned average salary in three days’

CEO’s at Britain’s top companies earned as much in the first three days of this week as the average worker will in a whole year, according to think tank the High Pay Centre.

Its annual analysis of pay in FTSE 100 companies estimates that pay for top CEOs is around 120 times that of the £31,461 average received by a typical UK worker. Their estimates suggest it was around 50 times at the turn of the millennium or 20 times in the early 1980s.

This means that those executives earned more by 5.30pm on 6 January than the average worker will be paid across the whole of 2021.

The research drew an angry response from unions. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said it “tells you everything you need to know about how unfair our economy is,” while GMB acting general secretary Warren Kenny described the figures as “repugnant”.

https://highpaycentre.org/high-pay-day-2021-ceos-earnings-for-2021-will-surpass-the-median-uk-full-time-salary-today

https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/ministers-must-make-economy-fair-says-tuc

https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/minimum-wage-worker-212-years-average-ceo-salary