According to an analysis by the High Pay Centre, the average salary of the UK’s 100 largest publicly listed companies for 2025 will be higher than that of the chief executives.
The median wage is rising faster than the FTSE 100 earnings. Therefore, this year FTSE 100 managers will have to work an additional two hours to catch up with UK median workers.
High Pay Centre estimates that the earnings of FTSE 100 CEOs in 2025 will exceed the median UK full-time worker’s annual salary around 11:15am on Monday, 6 January.
The median FTSE 100 CEO salary is currently PS4.22million (excluding pension), 113x the median wage of a full-time worker at PS37,430.
The median pay of workers has increased by 7.5%, compared to a 2.5% rise in CEO median pay.
Calculations are based upon HPC analysis of CEO pay disclosures in the latest annual reports and data provided by the Office for National Statistics, which shows pay levels throughout the UK economy.
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said: “The feeling that the economy is working to enrich a small elite at the cost of the wider society has been underrated as a cause of populist anger. It also supports extremist politics. The failure of policymakers to tackle this inequality will lead to future problems.
“Reforms by the new government that enable trade unions reach more workers will help ordinary employees gain a fair share of income currently captured by super rich executives and investors.” Bolder measures, such as the inclusion of elected worker directors in company boards and a cap on executive compensation would go a long way to ensuring that the wealth created by the UK’s economy is distributed across the nation in a sensible, sustainable and equitable manner.
Based on a report from Harvard Business School, the HPC assumes that CEOs are working 62.5 hours per week. This is 12.5 hours per day. This is based on a pay rate of £1,298 an hour in England and Wales.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said that “every worker plays a role in producing Britain’s prosperity.” While millions of low-paid employees are still suffering the effects of the crisis in cost of living, the people at the top take more than they should.
The Employment Rights Bill of the government will benefit many workers, as it improves their rights to wage bargaining and job security. Also, we need to reform boardroom greed by including workers in executive pay committees.
