US chief executive remuneration soars

The remuneration of US chief executives has accelerated at five-times the pace of rank-and-file workers.

According to research commissioned by the New York Post and carried out by Equilar, average chief executive compensation reached $10.9 million in the US last year, which is a rise of 512 per cent on the median salary recorded 20 years previously.

This occurred despite a dip in remuneration in 2008 because of the effects of the recession.

During the same period, meanwhile, the average wage of a full-time worker was recorded at three per cent annually since 1988.

This issue has become part of public debate since the outbreak of the global economic downturn - with president Barack Obama and Congress both giving attention to the issue.

According to the New York Post, Nell Minow, editor of governance research firm The Corporate Library, urged corporations to make alterations to their remuneration structures.

He said: "I want executives to create shareholder value, and I want them to earn a lot of money when they are successful. But I do not want them to be paid a lot of money when they fail."

Earlier this month, research conducted at Purdue University claimed that Fortune 500 chief executives are over-paid by around 129 times their ideal salaries.