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Canada’s top executives make 246 times more than average worker

CEOs averaged $14.9M annually compared to $60,600 for worker

Barry Ellsworth |02.01.2024 - 


TRENTON, Canada

Canada’s captains of industry made 246 times the annual salary of ordinary workers, according to a study released Tuesday.

By Jan. 2, the top 100 executives earned the annual income of an average employee –​​​​​​​ CAN$60,600 ($45,100).

“The average CEO collects $7,162 an hour,” according to the study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, an Ottawa think tank. “It takes just over eight hours in the new year for the top 100 CEOs to clock in … what the average worker in Canada makes in an entire year.”

And they earned it, by 9.27 am EST (1427GMT) Jan. 2 if Jan. 1 is considered a paid holiday.

The 246 number breaks last year’s figure of 243 times the average worker’s pay.

The vast majority of the top 100 earners are male, there are only four women on the list, and CEOs averaged CAN$14.9 million ($11.2 million) in 2022. That is up from CAN$14.3 million in 2021.

The average Canadian struggles with inflation that has pushed prices of virtually everything higher, particularly food.

“While the wave of inflation has been crashing down hard on regular Canadians, Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs have been riding it to another record-smashing year,” the report said. “Inflation presented a-once-in-a-lifetime chance for corporate Canada to jack up prices and pad their profit margins.”

That, in turn, was a major factor in the increase for CEOs, the study found.​​​​​​​