One CEO earns 212 times the salary of his average employee.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has today published its
fourth annual report on CEO pay in Ireland, noting that some CEOs are making 212 times the money of their average employee.
While the average worker's salary had increased by 2.6% since 2017, some companies - such as Smurift Kappa - saw their CEO pay increase by 99% over the same time period.
The report features a limited sample size and skews towards well-established, successful companies — monitoring CEO pay of 20 of some of the biggest companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and six Irish-based companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Private companies are not obliged to make their executive pay levels public.
Congress researcher Eileen Sweeney, who has been working on ICTU's CEO pay index since 2015, said: "The building materials company, CRH, continues to have the highest CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio, at 212-to-1.
"That is, it would take an ordinary worker 212 years to earn what the CRH boss took home in 2018."
CRH CEO Albert Manifold took home a total remuneration package of €8,230,000 in 2018. Paddy Power and Ryanair CEOs took home more than €2 million each.
As part of the report, ICTU published a graphic that illustrates how many years it would take an employee at any of the companies to earn as much as their CEO (see below).
