Wage gap grows between Dutch management, staff

The wage gap between management and the average employee grew again in the 1,000 largest Dutch companies last year, according to Statistics Netherlands. The five top earners per company earned over 6 times more than the average worker, compared to 5.5 percent in 2010.

Top earners received 252 thousand euros last year. Which means their salary increased by 22 percent. In the same period, average employees saw an average pay increase of about 6 percent. Full time workers earned an average of 50 thousand euros per year last year. If part time workers are included, the average annual salary was 33 thousand euros.

The biggest gap can be found in the financial services. In this sector top earners get over 13 times more than the average worker. The wage gap is also relatively large in trade, information and communication, according to Statistics Netherlands. The gap is the smallest in education, healthcare and public administration.

The list of top earners are mostly men, but the number of women is increasing. Last year 20 percent of top earners were women, compared to 17 percent in 2010.