As of 10:09 a.m. on Jan. 2, the average CEO of a public traded company in Canada had already made more than the average Canadian employee will in all of 2020, according to a new report.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has been tracking CEO compensation in Canada for the last 13 years. They compare the average incomes of the top 100 highest-paid CEOs to the incomes of the average workers in the country.
“The difference between top CEO incomes and the average Canadian income is a good indicator of income inequality,” said the report, written by CCPA Senior Economist David Macdonald.
That pay gap has increased, according to Macdonald's research.
The most recent data from 2018 showed that Canada’s average high-earning CEO made $11.8 million per year, while the average working Canadian made $52,601. The report points out that that means CEOs made 227 times more than the average Canadian.
“Wealth continues to concentrate at the very top while average incomes are barely keeping up with inflation,” Macdonald reported.
CEO incomes are increasing faster than average incomes, too. The average income for CEOs went up by 18% from 2017 to 2018, but the average worker income only went up by 2.6% in the same time period.
And, looking at the statistics over a longer timeframe showed that average workers’ pay has gone by 24% since 2008 versus 61% for CEOs, according to the report.
“The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has long called for tax reform as one, relatively simple means of correcting gross imbalances in income in Canada,” Macdonald said.
His report also highlighted the fact that there are only four women were listed in the top 100 richest CEOS in 2018.
Income inequality is not a new concept in Canada, nor does it apply strictly to CEOs.
CCPA published a report in 2018 that indicate that the net worth of the 87 richest families in Canada was 4,448 times higher than the average Canadian in 2016.
Income inequality plays an important role when it comes to ending extreme poverty and ultimately achieving the Global Goals around the world. Poor populations are more susceptible to illness, are more likely to miss out on education, and less likely to make good incomes — in countries all around the world.