TOP executives are paid too much, a recent survey has found.
The Monster.com.au survey found 47 per cent of 1,183 respondents believed executives were overpaid.
Monster.com.au interactive marketing director Marcelo Silva said an ordinary worker earning an average of $30,000 would take several life times to earn the equivalent of the $24.7 million change of control payments, $3.7 million salaries or $11.2 million redundancy payouts rumoured to have been made to senior executives.
“However you look at it, CEO pay in this country is going through the roof. The ordinary worker is questioning the validity of huge salaries,” Mr Silva said.
“The Director and Executive Remuneration Top 350 Report shows median CEO remuneration increased by 18.9 per cent to $535,090 per annum from $450,000 in 1997.”
Mr Silva said 49.5 per cent of CEOs in the report earned more than $500,000 in 1998.
“According to Business Week, the average CEO of a major corporation in the US made 42 times the pay of a typical American factory worker in 1980,” he said.
“By 1998 this ratio had risen to a staggering 419 times the amount of the ordinary man in the street.
“They estimate if this growth continues, by the year 2050 US CEOs will earn 150,000 times more than a worker,” he said.
