The excessive earnings of an “executive elite” are damaging trust in business and should be tackled through radical action such as a pay cap, according to a report.
The High Pay Centre said an “executive pay racket” has seen the earnings of chief executives growing to 180 times that of the average worker, compared with 60 times as much in the 1990s.
The think-tank called for a cap to tie boardroom pay to a fixed multiple of their lowest-paid employee and warned that widening inequality could also cause “political and economic instability”.
The report follows one of the biggest shareholder revolts against bumper pay packages when 53 per cent of Burberry investors voted against the £27 million pay of Christopher Bailey, the fashion house’s chief