Pay for chief executives at Belgium’s listed companies has risen almost twice as fast as employee wage costs over the past decade, according to a Vlerick Business School study reported by De Tijd.
The study found that the median gross pay of top executives in the Bel 20 index increased by 47.9% over the past 10 years.
For executives at Bel Mid companies, median gross pay rose by 46.7%. At Bel Small companies, it increased by 31%.
That growth outpaced the rise in average gross hourly labour costs in Belgium, which went up by 24.9% between 2016 and 2024, the study said.
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Those labour costs include all hourly expenses employers face when hiring staff, such as gross wages, employer social contributions, corporate taxes and holiday pay.
Xavier Baeten, a professor and remuneration policy specialist at Vlerick Business School, said rising share prices help explain the sharp increase in chief executive pay in recent years.
A growing share of CEO remuneration now comes from variable pay, which is often awarded in shares. As stock markets have performed strongly in recent years, average CEO pay has also increased.
