Welcome to “fat cat Wednesday”, the day where FTSE chief executives will have earned more money by mid-morning than the average worker earns in a whole year.
Research by think tank High Pay Centre highlights “how insensitive big company executives have become” when it comes to wage inequality.
The study also found that executive pay has soared 74% over the past decade and wages for ordinary workers have remained “flat”.
In 2012, top bosses took home £4.3m in 2012 at the rate of £1,000 per hour.
High Pay Centre director Deborah Hargreaves said: “Fat cat Wednesday highlights how insensitive big company executives have become.
“When top bosses take home more in two-and-a-half days than the average worker earns in a year, there is clearly something wrong with the way pay is set for both bosses and workers.”
Katja Hall, CBI Chief Policy Director, said: “High pay should always be associated with high performance.
“Employers recognise that staff have seen a real squeeze in earnings which was the trade off that enabled more people to keep their jobs during the recession. The good news is that as growth picks up, so too will pay settlements.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Soaring pay inequality, with top bosses now taking home more in a few days than most workers earn in a year, is damaging our economy.
“Workers need better pay rises so that the recovery is built on growing incomes, rather than falling savings and mounting household debts. But Britain’s fat cat bosses are hoarding earnings owed to staff for shareholders and themselves.
“That’s why we need workers on remuneration committees to knock some sense into top bosses’ pay.”
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