Survey says stars should be paid less Aug 25 2007
THE British public thinks Premier League footballers, company directors and the Prime Minister should get paid less than they do, a new report reveals today.
But experts warned a drop in salaries could lead to a brain drain as top employees – stung by lower wages – left for better pay abroad.
Public opinion lists sportsmen as the most overpaid group of workers, according to the poll by the Fabian Society, a left of centre political think tank.
The average salary of a Premier League footballer is around £676,000 a year, but most people think they should only take home £60,000.
And they believe Prime Minister Gordon Brown should be on around £135,000 – significantly less than his £187,000 pay packet.
Tom Hampson, editorial director at the Fabian Society, said, “This research shows how the British public feels the gap between the richest and poorest workers should be narrower.
“Our polling shows that the public thinks it is reasonable for Gordon Brown to be at the top of the earnings league above JK Rowling, managing directors of FTSE-100 companies and especially Premier League footballers like Wayne Rooney.”
Although a managing director of a top company can earn £1m or more with bonuses, the 3,000 survey participants put the acceptable income level at £120,000.
But David Blackaby, professor of economics at University of Wales, Swansea said, “If you try to restrict their salaries you’re going to get a brain drain.
“If you reduce a managing director’s salary for example, they’re just going to go to America where their salary might be better.
“In a world where people can move across countries it doesn’t matter what we think they should be paid, it’s what they can get that’s important.”
He added, “Many young individuals want to be footballers but only a small amount make it. Those that do make a lot of money, those that don’t, don’t make any money from it.
“In economic terms we talk about risk – those people that make it make fantastic salaries, the rest of us don’t necessarily make the same money but it’s easier to get into our jobs.”
The Fabian/YouGov research showed that the British public felt that the lowest paid workers deserved more money.
Research author Rachael Jolley said, “There is a sense that society works more fairly in countries where the gap between the richest and poorest is closest.
“People believe in a fair wage for the work that they do.
“Progressive political politics should acknowledge that the public want the unfair gap between the rich and poor to be narrowed.”
Nursing was one of the salaries which people believed needed to be increased.
A senior nurse was put at a level of £33,000 where in reality they earn an average of £24,000 across the UK.
Penny Philips, 48, who works at Bryn-y-Neuadd Hospital in Llanfairfechan, North Wales, has been a nurse for 20 years and earns £24,500.
She said, “If you were to compare us to teachers – and I think we should be compared to teachers and policemen – it takes a nurse 30 years to get up to the equivalent of someone of equal experience and an equal knowledge base.
“I choose to keep working on the wards so I work anti-social hours and I work nights because I haven’t gotten into management.
“But, as a staff nurse, you can’t get paid any more than me as a band five staff grade.
“If I went into management I would go into a different band and I would get paid more but I prefer to stay with the patients.”
She added, “I can see there being a genuine problem with students.
“Student nurses aren’t going to go through three years of working very hard just to earn what I do when they could become dentists or doctors or teachers.
“I really worry that we won’t be able to staff the wards in a few years.”
