The average salary for CEOs around the world has jumped by 50% in real terms since 2019, while the average wages of workers increased by only 0.9% during the same period.
These last discoveries, which reveal that the CEO Pay has increased 56 times more than workers 'salaries since 2019, has been published by Oxfam to mark International Workers' Day.
Oxfam interviewed 2,000 companies, targeting 35 countries in which CEOs have won more than a million dollars (€ 885,000) in 2024.
The organization noted that in Europe, Ireland and Germany had some of the highest paid CEOs – which earned an average of $ 6.7 million (5.9 million euros) and $ 4.7 million per year (4.1 million euros) respectively in 2024.
In comparison, the average CEO's average remuneration in South Africa in 2024 reached $ 1.6 million (1.4 million euros) and $ 2 million (1.7 million euros) in India.
“Year after year, we see the same grotesque spectacle: CEO Pay explodes while workers' salaries are barely moving,” said Oxfam International Executive Director, Amitabh Behar.
“This is not a problem in the system – it is the system that works exactly as designed, by channeling the wealth ever upwards while millions of workers find it difficult to allow rent, food and health care,” added Behar.
Out of 45,501 companies questioned where a CEO earned more than $ 10 million (8.86 million euros) and their sex was openly reported, less than 7% had a CEO woman.
“In the world, workers are denied the basics of life while companies recommend record profits, taxes and lobby to escape responsibility,” said Luc Triangle, secretary general of the Confederation of the International Syndicate (ITUC).
The billionaires – which are often entirely or partly possessed by large companies – pocketed an average of $ 206 billion (182.7 billion euros) of new wealth in the past year.
This is equivalent to $ 23,500 (€ 20,836) and exceeds the world's average income figure for $ 2023 (€ 18,621).
While the International Labor Organization (ILO) said that real wages had increased by 2.7% in 2024, many workers saw their salary stagnating, with actual growth of wages at 0.6% last year in France, South Africa and Spain.
Although wage inequality has decreased worldwide, it remains particularly high in low -income countries, where the share of the richest 10% is 3.4 times higher than the poorest 40%.
