Canada’s top executives earn 246 times more than the country’s average worker

Only in the first hours of 2024 any of the top 100 CEOs of Canada has earned 60,000 Canadian dollars (US$45,000), as much money as the annual salary of the average worker in the country, according to a study released this Tuesday.

According to data from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the average compensation received by the country’s top 100 CEOs is $7,162 per hour, so in just over eight hours they earned as much as a worker half will obtain in all of 2024.

CCPA senior economist David Macdonald explained in a statement that these executives earn 246 times more than the average worker in the country, a record proportion that exceeds the previous maximum, 243, reached in 2021.

Macdonald added that in 2022, on average, the country’s top 100 executives earned 14.9 million Canadian dollars per year.

The CCPA economist also highlighted that the country’s top executives directly benefit from the high inflation that Canada has suffered for more than two years because their financial compensation is linked to corporate profits and depends less on the salaries they receive.

In 2022, the average salary increase for workers was 3%, below the inflation of that year that reached 6.8%. On the other hand, the salary increase received by executives was 4.4%which although it was also below inflation had a different effect for the country’s CEOs.

“In 2021 and 2022, inflation and corporate profits skyrocketed. And as a direct result, CEO bonuses also reached all-time highs, as companies benefited from high prices.”CCPA explained.

The Ottawa-based think tank proposed to the Canadian government that it create a new tax bracket for high-income earners and impose a wealth tax, among other measures, to reduce inequality between top executives and workers.

“CEO pay continues to increase without limits. “Taxes may be the control that is needed,” Macdonald explained.