Fat cat bosses will have out-earned the average worker’s yearly pay by the end of the day today.
Growing levels of inequality in the UK mean a typical CEO rakes in the average staff salary in just three working days.
FTSE 100 chiefs get the equivalent of £901 an hour, against £14.37 an hour for a full-time employee, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the High Pay Centre think-tank data shows.
The figures come as big firms are being forced to reveal for the first time the pay divide.
The average FTSE 100 boss in 2018 got £3.46 million, with the top paid being Jeff Fairburn, ex-chief of builder Persimmon, on £38.9 million.
Peter Cheese, of the CIPD, said: “Pay ratio reporting is just the start. We need businesses to justify high levels of pay.”
But Luke Hildyard, of the High Pay Centre, said: “CEOs’ pay makes the UK one of Europe’s most unequal countries.”
Last year Britain’s biggest companies were ordered to cap sky-high salaries for top bosses and align them more closely with ordinary workers, or face the wrath of a new regulator.
A hard-hitting report from the Business Committee examining the subject claims that soaring CEO pay packages at FTSE 100 firms are a symbol of “corporate greed” and are tarnishing Britain’s reputation.
It is calling for a stronger link to be made between executive and employee pay, citing “huge differentials” in the pay system.
The study is urging the new corporate regulator – the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority – to be “more robust and proactive in bearing down on excessive executive pay” and to get tough with companies that fail to act responsibly.
Committee chair Rachel Reeves said: “The roll-call of dishonourable executive pay decisions at firms including Persimmon, Unilever, Royal Mail, BT, Melrose and Foxtons, tell the all too familiar tale of corporate greed which is so damaging to the reputation of business in our country.
“But these examples also highlight the persistence of executive pay policies where far too little weight is given to delivering genuine long-term value, investing in the future, or ensuring rewards are shared with workers.
“When the company does well, it is workers and not just the chief executive who should share the profits. Why should chief executives have a more generous pension scheme than those who work for them?”
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