High Pay Day 2024

    Hat tip High Pay Centre and brilliant cartoon which I cannot remember source. 

"We have estimated that FTSE 100 CEOs’ earnings for 2024 will surpass the median UK worker’s full time annual salary today, just before 1pm on Thursday 4 January. FTSE 100 bosses’ will have to work one hour fewer to overtake UK median worker than they did in 2023 Top city lawyers will have to wait until the beginning of next week to surpass the median worker’s annual pay, while leading bankers will have to wait until 17th January Calculations based on most recent available figures for CEOs and other top professions, plus Government data on UK workers’ pay According to our calculations, median FTSE 100 CEO’s earnings for 2024 will surpass the median annual salary for a full-time worker in the UK by around 1pm on Thursday 4 January. The calculations are based on our analysis of the most recent CEO pay disclosures published in companies’ annual reports, combined with government statistics showing pay levels across the UK economy. As with last year, the executive pay data suggests that CEOs will have to wait until the third working day of 2024 to surpass the annual pay of the median worker. Median FTSE 100 CEO pay (excluding pension) currently stands at £3.81 million, 109 times the median full time worker’s pay of £34,963. This represents an 9.5% increase on median CEO pay levels as of March 2023, while the median worker’s pay has increased by 6%. The figures come against a backdrop of calls from leading figures in the city and big business for UK CEOs to be paid more. In December 2023 Legal and General Investment Management adjusted their executive pay guidelines to permit firms they invest in to offer more generous incentive payments, while earlier in the year the London Stock Exchange Chief Executive argued that low CEO pay levels create a risk to the UK economy. How other top earners compare We have used other publicly available data to estimate how long it would take other top earners to surpass the median UK worker’s full time earnings. Other FTSE 350 executives (comprised of FTSE 100 executives other than the CEO, plus CEOs and other executives of FTSE 250 companies), median pay £1.32m, will need to work until 10th January for their pay to overtake the annual pay of the median UK worker A partner at a ‘magic circle’ law firm, average pay £1.92m, would need to work until 8th January A partner at a ‘Big Four’ Accountancy firm, average pay £871k, would need to work until 16th January A top banker (so-called ‘material risk taker’) at one of the five FTSE 100 listed banks, average pay £807k, would need to work until 16th January Everyone in the top 1% of full time UK earners, making at least £145k, will have overtaken the annual pay of the median full time worker by 29th March The research has been covered widely in the media including by the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Mirror."

"FTSE 100 bosses paid more in three days than average UK worker for whole year" 5 Jan 2023

 

Hat tip https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/05/ftse-100-bosses-paid-more-in-three-days-than-average-uk-worker-for-whole-year

"CEOs pass milestone nine working hours earlier than last year, with pay up 39% on January 2022

The bosses of Britain’s biggest companies will have made more money in 2023 by Thursday afternoon than the average UK worker will earn in the entire year, according to analysis of vast pay gaps amid strike action and the cost of living crisis.

The High Pay Centre, a thinktank that campaigns for fairer pay for workers, said that by 2pm on the third working day of the year, a FTSE 100 chief executive will have been paid more on an hourly basis than a UK worker’s annual salary, based on median average remuneration figures for both groups.

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, the unions’ umbrella body, called on the government to intervene to “bring back some fairness on pay” as many lower-paid workers struggle with swingeing real-term cuts to their income.

“Everyone deserves a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. But while working people are told not to ask for more, top pay is soaring,” he said. “We need government action to bring back some fairness on pay. Workers should have seats on executive pay committees to bring some common sense to top pay. And ministers must set out plans for fair pay for everyone, starting by agreeing to pay negotiations in the public sector.”

According to analysis by the GMB trade union, it would take a 999 ambulance call handler almost 150 years to match the pay of the average chief executive. “It’s an utter disgrace,” said Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB, which represents ambulance workers set to go on strike next week. “NHS workers and others are being forced on to the picket lines just to make ends meet while these fat cats get the cream.”

FTSE 100 chief executives are paid £3.4m on average, which works out at 103 times the £33,000 average salary for full-time UK workers, according to Office for National Statistics figures.

The figures highlight how executive pay has increased dramatically after a dip during the pandemic, while ordinary workers are struggling to secure pay rises anywhere near inflation. Median FTSE 100 CEO pay is up 39% on January 2022, while the median worker’s pay has increased by only 6% over the same period.

This year, FTSE 100 bosses will pass the pay milestone nine hours earlier than they did in 2022. The data suggested that CEOs would have to wait until the fourth working day of 2022 to overtake the median worker’s annual salary, while this year they will accomplish the feat in under three days.

Luke Hildyard, the director of the High Pay Centre, said: “In the worst economic circumstances that most people can remember, it is difficult to believe that a handful of top earners are still raking in such extraordinary amounts of money.

“The UK economy really cannot afford for such a big share of the wealth that is created by all workers to be captured by such a tiny number of people at the top. To address declining living standards for the majority, we need measures to balance the distribution of incomes more evenly.”

The highest-paid FTSE 100 CEO, according to the research, was Sébastien de Montessus, of Endeavour, which operates goldmines in Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal. He was paid £16.9m, including an £8m “one-off award” when the firm relocated from Toronto to London.

The second highest-paid boss was Pascal Soriot, of AstraZeneca, who was paid £13.9m.

Executives below CEO level in the FTSE 100 and the senior bosses of the next 250 largest UK companies would need to work until 11 January for their pay to overtake the annual earnings of the median UK worker.

A lawyer in a magic circle law firm would need to work until 9 January, while a partner in one of the big four accountancy firms would wait until 16 January, and it would be a day later for a top banker at one of the UK’s five biggest listed banks.

Every person in the top 1% of full-time UK earners, making at least £145,000, will have overtaken the annual earnings of the median employee by 23 March."