Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

In 2021, median pay for FTSE 100 CEOs fell to *just* 86 times that of the median annual wage for a full-time worker.

Although a huge gulf, it's quite a drop from the previous two years, when FTSE 100 CEO earnings were almost 120 times those of average UK workers!

This reduction reflects temporary pay freezes & bonus cuts announced by many companies after the initial #Covid19 lockdowns, with average CEO remuneration falling from a measly £3.25MILLION in 2019 to *just* £2.7MILLION in 2020! 🤯

UK average earnings for full-time work also fell between 2019 & 2021, & the High Pay Centre said 2022 would be the first year in a decade when CEOs would need to work into the FOURTH DAY of the new year to earn the same amount an average worker would take home in the full year.

Public attitudes have also hardened: research conducted by the High Pay Centre and the polling company Survation found that a majority of people believed high earnings were the result of educational and social privilege, not a reflection of harder or more valuable work.

'Some of the lowest-paying jobs have played the most important role to keep society functioning through the pandemic. With the value of the UK economy reduced, there’s greater pressure to share what we do have more evenly. Vast CEO/worker pay differences are harder to justify.'

The High Pay Centre think-tank is backing calls from unions & opposition parties for further policy reforms to discourage excessive pay at the top — including by requiring companies to bring elected worker representatives on to remuneration committees.

TUC Chief Frances O’Grady said the figures showed the need for “big reforms to bring CEO pay down to earth”, not only by including workers in pay committees but also by replacing incentive schemes for directors with profit-share schemes benefiting companies’ entire workforce.

Details from this article:

ft.com/content/8fafcf…