While the pay of bosses of the top 100 companies rose 10% in 2011, average household incomes are slumping.
A new report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies finds that in 2010-11 mean household income (the average of household incomes) fell 5.7% and median household income (the income of a middling household) fell 3.2%.
Both averages are below their 2004-5 level.
The one-year fall in 2010-11 was the biggest since 1981, and the longer-period fall is one of the largest on record.