Study exposes extent of pay inequality in UK

A new study has exposed the extent of pay inequality in Britain, showing top bosses’ earning in just three days is more than a typical worker’s annual pay.

According to the research by the High Pay Centre, the independent non-party think tank focused on pay at the top of the income scale: chief executives with FTSE-100 companies have made more money since Monday than those on the country’s annual average wage of £26,000.

The bosses of the firms listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization were also reported to have been paid an average of about £4.3 million in 2012.

Moreover, it was found that executive pay in Britain has increased by some 74 percent over the past decade despite ordinary workers’ wage remaining “flat.”

High Pay Centre director Deborah Hargreaves dubbed January 8, 2014 as “fat cat Wednesday.”

“When top bosses take home more in two and a half days than the average worker earns in a year, there is clearly something wrong with the way pay is set for both bosses and workers,” Hargreaves said.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the UK’s national trade union centre, also criticized the UK’s “soaring pay inequality” for damaging the country’s economy.