Top jobs ‘behind wage inequality’

Jobs including chief executives and managers have contributed to the rise in wage inequality in recent decades, research has shown.

Highly paid jobs have become even better paid, including company executives and general managers of large organisations, whose hourly pay jumped from £12.07 in 1975 to £49.20 in 1996, according to the study by Dr Mark Williams of the London School of Economics.

The sharpest growth in inequality was between 1975 and 1996, followed by a more stable pattern.

Dr Williams said: “The biggest single reason for the growth in inequality has been that highly paid jobs have become even more highly paid.”