UK’s Top Bosses ‘Earn’ 242 times the Minimum Wage Worker’s Annual Salary
A FTSE 100 CEO now earns an average (median) annual pay of £3.45 million[1], per year, which is 242 times more than that of a minimum wage worker. Top bosses’ pay will have surpassed the annual salary of a minimum wage worker on Thursday 4th January.
Analysis by The Equality Trust found the average pay for a FTSE 100 CEO is:
● 108 times more than a nurse’s.
● 91 times more than a teacher’s.
● 84 times more than a police officer’s.
● 197 times more than a care worker’s.[2]
The Equality Trust recently joined forces with campaign group Pay Compare and will be continuing to campaign for pay ratio disclosures with campaigns such as #FairFTSE, #FairFootie, #FairCampus and #FairCouncil. Pay Compare has a database of hundreds of organisations that have disclosed their pay ratios.[3]
Dr Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director of The Equality Trust, said:
“In a year when our nurses, teachers and police officers have been visiting foodbanks, it’s even more of a national scandal that the average FTSE 100 CEO is taking home their annual salary before the first working week of the year is even finished.
Britain’s bosses are guaranteed to win the lottery every year, whether they perform well or perform badly. Valuing a boss 91 times more than a teacher or 108 times more than a nurse demonstrates a deep failing at the heart of society. There’s a monumental divide as the rich get richer and even those in work are unable to make ends meet.
As we can see, CEO pay is coming down slightly, in part due to the light that organisations, such as The Equality Trust, have shone on this scandal. We need a society where everyone is valued and more of us have a fair share of the prosperity created in the UK.”
Notes to editors
For interviews or further comment contact jo.wittams@equalitytrust.org.uk
The Equality Trust is the national charity that campaigns to improve quality of life in the UK by reducing economic and social inequality. UK income inequality is among the highest in the developed world and evidence shows that this results in poorer mental and physical health, higher violent crime, poorer educational outcomes and lower levels of trust. Inequality affects us all.
1. According to the High Pay Centre calculations, the median pay for a FTSE 100 CEO in 2016 was £3.45 million, based on the publicly disclosed “single figure” measure. Source: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/reward/executive-pay-ftse-100 To calculate the annual salary of a minimum wage worker works we assume they work 7.5 hours a day at the National Living Wage rate of £7.50 an hour, but do not work on weekends or bank holidays (total of 253 days a year). This would provide an annual salary of £14,231.
2. This refers to the average (median) pay for a nurse, teacher, police officer and care worker as detailed in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2016. The average pay for a nurse is £31,867, for a teacher it is 37,805, for a police officer it is £40,856 and for a care worker it is £17,512.
3. See Pay Compare – www.paycompare.org.uk