Top bosses to surpass the average worker’s salary less than 4 days into 2024

As you’re settling down to your cheese sandwich and bag of Monster Munch this lunchtime, you might want to spare a thought for all those hardworking FTSE 100 CEOs who will be on the verge of surpassing your annual earnings for the year.

That’s right, at around 1pm today (Thursday, 4 January), bosses of Britain’s biggest companies will already have made more money than the typical fulltime worker will make all year (£34,963).

Figures from the High Pay Centre show on average the top dogs at these firms rake in pay packages, including pensions, worth £3.81m a year – that’s £1,170 an hour – 109 times the amount of us mere mortals.

When it comes to other high earners, leading lawyers will need to hold out until next Monday to surpass the typical worker’s annual salary and accountancy aces until the third week of the month.

Overall, top bosses’ have seen their pay increase by 9.5% since March 2023, compared to 6% for the average worker.

Stagnating living standards for the masses

Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said the figures reflect Britain’s misplaced values.

He commented:

“Lobbyists for big business and the financial services industry spent much of 2023 arguing that top earners in Britain aren’t paid enough and that we are too concerned with gaps between the super-rich and everybody else.

“They think that economic success is created by a tiny number of people at the top and that everybody else has very little to contribute.

“When politicians listen to these misguided views, it’s unsurprising that we end up with massive inequality, and stagnating living standards for the majority of the population.”