Top CEOs will make more in the first 4 days of 2024 than the average worker makes in a year, analysis shows

• The CEOs of top companies in the UK will earn the median annual salary of a full-time worker in just three days.
• That's according to analysis of CEO pay and average pay in the UK by the High Pay Centre.

The bosses of top companies in the UK will have earned more money by 1 p.m. on Thursday 4 January than the average worker makes in a year, a new analysis by the think tank High Pay Centre found.

The research, published on Thursday, analyzed the most recent CEO pay data published in the company's annual reports and combined them with government statistics that show pay levels across the UK.

It found that the wages of CEOs of FTSE 100 companies — an index of the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market cap — will overtake the pay of the average UK worker in just three and a half days, highlighting a disproportionate wealth gap.

Per the report, FTSE 100 CEOs have a median annual pay of £3.81 million ($4.8 million), which is 109 times the median full-time workers' pay of £34,963 ($44,000).

Meanwhile, a partner at one of the UK's most prestigious law firms with an average annual pay of £1.92 million ($2.42 million) would need to work until January 8 to outstrip the pay of the average worker in the UK.

And top bankers – with an average pay of £800,000 ($1.1 million) – would need to work until January 16 to do the same, the report said.

The pay gap isn't much better in the US with CEOs at 500 major firms making 272 times more than employees in 2022, with an average compensation of $16.7 million, according to the AFL-CIO.