Executive rises lowest for 25 years

BRITAIN'S executives received the lowest annual pay rises for 25 years in the past six months, according to P-E International, the remuneration consultants, writes Roger Trapp.

The median annualised rate of increase in the half-year to September was 5.5 per cent, sharply down on the 10 per cent in the same period last year.

'Experience from previous recessionary periods suggests that this downward trend is likely to continue until 1994, tracking a declining retail price index,' P-E said. Its report covers more than 6,000 individual packages from 508 companies with turnovers ranging from less than pounds 5m to more than pounds 2bn.

It found one in five chief executives or managing directors earning more than pounds 100,000 received no salary increase. The proportion of all directors receiving no increase or taking a pay cut rose from 7 to 11 per cent.

A separate study by Employment Conditions Abroad found that senior managers earning pounds 52,000 a year are receiving pay increases of more than double the inflation rate, writes Barrie Clement. The analysis, published today, says top executives are enjoying rises of 7.5 per cent compared with the 3.7 per cent August increase in the Retail Price Index.