Chief executives of the 100 largest companies in the UK would have earned the yearly wage of the average Southampton resident by 11am on Thursday, figures suggest.

Analysis from the High Pay Centre shows pay for FTSE 100 CEOs currently stands at £3.8 million per year.

Meanwhile, separate Office for National Statistics figures show the median full-time wage for a worker in Southampton in the 2022-23 tax year was £33,101.

READ MORE: The Southampton City Council bosses who earn more than £100,000

It means a FTSE 100 CEO would need around 28 hours to surpass the average Southampton full-time worker's annual wage.

Harvard Business School research suggests FTSE 100 CEOs work 12.5 hours per day.

Assuming they started work at 8am on Tuesday, when most people will have gone back to work, they would have earned the average yearly wage by 11am on Thursday January 4.

The Trades Union Congress accused the Conservatives of "presiding over and enabling obscene levels of pay inequality".

General secretary Paul Nowak said: "While working people have been forced to suffer the longest wage squeeze in modern history, city bosses have been allowed to pocket bumper rises and bankers have been given unlimited bonuses.

"It doesn’t have to be this way. We need an economy that rewards work – not just wealth."

Mr Nowak said workers should be placed on company boards, called for wealth to be taxed more fairly, and urged the Government to "work with unions and employers to drive up living standards for all".

"Under the Tories, it is one rule for the super-wealthy and one rule for everybody else," he added.

The figures also show FTSE CEO pay increased by 9.5 per cent in the last year, while in Southampton, full-time average wages rose by 0.2 per cent.

A government spokesperson said: "We have given millions of workers across the UK a historic pay rise thanks to our decision to increase the National Living Wage to £11.44 an hour.

"In total since 2010, the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will have increased by over £10,000, demonstrating how we are delivering for those in work."