Key events
Introduction: FTSE 100 CEOs snag 16% average pay rise, taking typical pay to £3.9m
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
There’s buzz this morning about new figures released from the High Pay Centre thinktank, which show that – on average – FTSE 100 CEOs took home an extra £500,000 last year.
The average 16% pay rise took typical salaries to £3.9m compared to £3.4m a year earlier. It marks the highest pay levels since 2017, when average CEO pay reached £3.97m, but later dipped during the Covid crisis.
New @HighPayCentre research out today – CEOs of Britain’s biggest companies enjoyed a £500k payrise last year https://t.co/IBt0Wx6Sti
Median pay for FTSE 100 CEOs was £3.9m in 2022, up from £3.4m. FTSE 350 firms spent a total of £1.3bn on pay of 570 executives
— Luke Hildyard (@lukehildyard) August 22, 2023
That compares the £33,000 salary earned by the average worker, who has also been squeezed by rising prices during the cost of living crisis.
Regular pay growth, which excludes bonuses, reached 7.8% over the three months to June, but actually fell to 0.6% once inflation was taken into account. The UK’s rate of inflation recently eased to 6.8% in July, but peaked at 11.1% in October.
The new figures have raised fresh concerns about levels of inequality across the UK.
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said:
While millions of families have seen their budgets shredded by the cost of living crisis, City directors have enjoyed bumper pay rises.
This is why workers must be given seats on company boards to inject some much-needed common sense and restraint. We need an economy that delivers better living standards for all – not just those at the top.
But under the Tories, Britain has become a land of gross extremes. As households across the country have struggled to put food on the table, sales of Porsches have hit record levels.
