Bosses earn more than six times the salary of the average worker

euro money banknotesThe wage gap between company executives and the rest of the workforce has stretched over the past few years, according to new figures from national statistics office CBS.

While wage rises agreed in national pay agreements rose 6% between 2010 and 2015, the salaries of executive staff rose 22%, the CBS said.

The statistics office looked at average gross wages at the 1,000 biggest companies in the Netherlands – most of which had a workforce of at least 900. It found that the salaries of the five highest earners rose by over one fifth to an average of €252,000 a year over the five year period.

The average full-time salary in the Netherlands is €50,000 a year, but the average wage shrinks to €33,000 when part-time salaries are taken into account, the CBS said.

Including holiday pay and bonuses, the top five executives earned 6.1 times more than the average worker in 2015. In 2010, top earners had a gross salary 5.5 times that of the average member of staff.

Taking taxes and premiums but not bonuses into account, senior executives earn 4.4 times the average company wage, the CBS said.

The wage gap is biggest in the financial services sector, where bosses earn 13.4 times the pay of the average member of staff. This is a rise on 2014 but still down on the 15.7 factor in 2010.

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation