In 6 days, CAC40 bosses have already earned more than their employees in a year

Imagined in 2019 by the British Think Tank High Pay Centre, the “High Pay Day” is an indicator which calculates the moment from which company managers begin to earn more than the average annual amount that one of their employees will pocket on any the year. According to Oxfam, this year, the fateful date fell on Monday January 6 at 4:49 p.m.

Having just returned from vacation, the biggest fortunes of French employers will now see their economic capital swell exponentially. Not their employees! And again, this should have happened a few days earlier. Using the High Pay Center calculation method (the earnings of CEOs recorded in 2023, the latest statistics available, smoothed over 320 days worked, compared to the fact that that year, these same managers earned on average 117 times more annually than their employees).

A milestone reached on January 4 if it hadn’t been for the weekend

Oxfam estimates that in reality it only takes two working days and a few hours more for the big bosses of the 40 largest multinationals listed in Paris to reach the average annual salary practiced in their companies. The fateful date should have occurred during the day of Saturday January 4. But the weekend is considered non-working. It is therefore this Monday that salary overrun day takes place.

This year, this milestone was reached a few hours late compared to 2024: January 6, 4:49 p.m., instead of January 6, 11:35 a.m. This small difference is due to the data taken into account. In 2022, CAC 40 CEOs received on average compensation 130 times higher than that of their employees. In 2023, they have “only” won 117 times more. This tiny variation demonstrates that pay inequalities die hard in the largest companies.

Oxfam also reveals the champions in terms of income gap. Daniel Julien, CEO of Téléperformance, earned 695 times more than the average employee in one of his multinational’s call centers, amassing more than 10 million euros in earnings in 2023. Same case for Alexandre Bompard of Carrefour, whose employees receive 408 times less than him in one year. Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systèmes, pocketed 46 million euros in income, or 381 times more than the company’s average worker.

Pour Oxfam, “these abysmal pay gaps which concern the bosses of the largest French multinationals must be questioned even though at the same time the Minister of the Economy Éric Lombard has spoken out in favor of measures which would make it possible for the most fortunate to contribute more . »