Oxfam: CEO Salaries Soar 50% Since 2019 While Workers’ Wages Barely Rise
Labor Inequality by by Nick Anderson
In a striking May Day report, global aid organization Oxfam revealed the widening gap between executive pay and worker wages, underscoring what it calls a “designed inequality” within the global economic system.
According to Oxfam’s analysis, CEO salaries have risen by 50% in real terms since 2019, while worker wages have increased just 0.9% during the same period. The report, released ahead of International Workers’ Day, paints a stark picture of global income inequality.
By 2024, the average CEO earns $4.3 million annually, while billionaires earn more in a single hour than most workers make in a year, the report states.
Billionaires Earn $23,500 per Hour
Based on data from S&P Capital IQ, CEO pay reached the highest levels in:
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Ireland: $6.7 million,
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Germany: $4.7 million,
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India: $2 million,
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South Africa: $1.6 million.
In 2023 alone, billionaires amassed $206 billion in new wealth, equivalent to $23,500 per hour, highlighting what Oxfam calls a systematically rigged economy.
“This is not a bug — it’s a feature of the system,” said Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar.
“Workers are demanding fair taxation, strong public services, and decent wages,” added Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). “These are not radical demands — they are the foundations of a just society.”
Call for Wealth Taxes and Union Rights
To combat the growing wealth gap, Oxfam and ITUC called for:
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Income taxes up to 75% on ultra-wealthy individuals,
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Living wages indexed to inflation,
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Strengthening of union rights globally.
The report frames the disparity in compensation not as an unintended side effect but as a deliberate product of economic design—one that must be restructured for fairness and sustainability.