Read it and weep - today's the day top CEOs outpace the average annual salary of the nation
You should be sitting down for this one.
By 1:01 p.m. today, January 4, the top 100 CEOs in the country earn what the average Canadian pulls in during a year. Hugh Mackenzie, research associate for the Canadian Centre on Policy Alternatives, makes the calculation based on his new study analyzing wage breakdowns in 2008 and the preceding decade. In 2008 - the year "recession broadsided the nation" - he found the top 100 executives made 174 times more than the average Canadian wage. Says Mackenizie:
“To put that in perspective, Canadians will work full-time throughout the year to earn the national average of $42,305. The top 100 CEOs pocket that amount by 1:01 p.m. on January 4 – the first working day of the year.”
The report, entitled Soft Landing, shows these executives pocketed an average total compensation of $7.3 million in 2008. The CCPA website summarizes his report under the heading: "Top CEOs Still Raking it in."
“Between 1998 and 2008, Canada’s top 100 CEOs’ average compensation outpaced inflation by 70 per cent,” says Mackenzie. “In contrast, Canadians earning the average income lost six per cent to inflation over that period.”
You'll find a link to the full report at the CCPA website, as well as a link to a handy-dandy chart so you use the CEO pay calculator to figure out how long it takes one of their number to pocket your salary.
Or not. It may all be just too depressing.
Here's an idea. Figure it out over a brew after tomorrow night's hockey game if - and only if - Canada's Juniors beat the U.S.
According to an authority on the subject, executives are overcompensated because big birds get very hungry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueZ6tvqhk8U
Posted by: Jim M | January 07, 2010 at 11:05 AM