Austria’s Executive Pay Gap: Five Days to Earn a Year’s Salary?

I was reading that top managers in Austria earn the median annual salary of a regular employee in just five working days. Five. Days.

An average CEO of an ATX company only needs five working days to reach the median income of around EUR 36,000. This corresponds to 75 times the median income of an employee in Austria. The Vienna Chamber of Labour (AK) used a method developed by the British think tank High Pay Centre to calculate this.

They assumed a CEO works 12-hour days, takes only one weekend off a month, and works 320 days a year. Even with that intense schedule, the pay disparity is jaw-dropping.

What really resonated with me was AK’s call for a more balanced ratio between executive and employee salaries. I couldn’t agree more. It’s not about punishing success—it’s about fairness, sustainability, and shared responsibility. When one person earns in a week what another earns in a year, it’s worth asking: Is that really the kind of economy we want to build?

I’ll be keeping a close eye on where this conversation goes next. Honestly, earning in five days what most people make in a year isn’t just a jaw-dropping stat—it’s a signal that something’s out of balance.

If you notice any inaccuracies in my writing, please get in touch with me. I will be happy to correct it.