Here’s another reason to be the boss; you’re likely to earn 155 times more than the average Canadian income earner or roughly $6.6 million, annually, according to the study Recession-Proof by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The study of Canada’s best-paid 100 CEOs looked at 2009 compensation levels and showed a steep disparity from the total average Canadian income of $42,988.
“At this rate of reward, this handful of elite CEOs pocket the equivalent of the average Canadian wage by 2:30 pm on January 3 – the first working day of the year,” said the study’s author and CCPA Research Associate Hugh Mackenzie.
It is no surprise CEOs have always made more than the average earner. In 1998, the best paid 100 CEOs pocketed an average of 104 times more than the average Canadian wage earner.
The difference could be even greater when accounting for stock options, which are taxed at a lower rate, as if they are capital gains.
“Even that extraordinary number understates the real story. Thanks to a change in corporate reporting introduced in 2008, we only have a conservative statistical estimate of the stock options that make up about one third of CEOs’ 2009 pay,” said Mackenzie.
“The public will never know how much most of these CEOs actually got paid in 2009. And that’s only half the story. These CEOs are sitting on $1.3 billion of stock options they haven’t yet cashed in. That’s about $2 in future income for every $1 they declared in 2009.”
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates.
Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The study of Canada’s best-paid 100 CEOs looked at 2009 compensation levels and showed a steep disparity from the total average Canadian income of $42,988.
“At this rate of reward, this handful of elite CEOs pocket the equivalent of the average Canadian wage by 2:30 pm on January 3 – the first working day of the year,” said the study’s author and CCPA Research Associate Hugh Mackenzie.
It is no surprise CEOs have always made more than the average earner. In 1998, the best paid 100 CEOs pocketed an average of 104 times more than the average Canadian wage earner.
The difference could be even greater when accounting for stock options, which are taxed at a lower rate, as if they are capital gains.
“Even that extraordinary number understates the real story. Thanks to a change in corporate reporting introduced in 2008, we only have a conservative statistical estimate of the stock options that make up about one third of CEOs’ 2009 pay,” said Mackenzie.
“The public will never know how much most of these CEOs actually got paid in 2009. And that’s only half the story. These CEOs are sitting on $1.3 billion of stock options they haven’t yet cashed in. That’s about $2 in future income for every $1 they declared in 2009.”
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates.
Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
