Where the Pay Is

WESTERN EUROPE

The golden ruler by which a man's business success is most often measured is income. This week Britain's Associated Industrial Consultants Ltd. will bring out the most thorough report to date on who makes how much in Europe. After surveying the middle managers of 462 companies in seven key countries, the questioners concluded that the best-paid managers are the English and the worst-rewarded are the Dutch, who have a surfeit of management talent.

A chief accountant, for example, earns an average of $6,440 yearly in Britain but only $5,260 in The Netherlands (and $6,160 in Belgium, $5,600 in West Germany, $5,400 in France). Britain also does best by its plant managers ($7,000), design-research chiefs ($7,000) and domestic sales managers ($8,400).* The fringes are also flossiest in Britain. Almost two-thirds of its sales managers drive company cars, often for private use, but less than one-third of their German counterparts do. Britain is big on subsidized lunches; 40% of the middle managers eat at least partly on the house. France leads in the field of subsidized housing, and the Germans get the best Christmas bonuses, usually two or three months' extra salary.

In Italy, Belgium and The Netherlands, the chemical industry tops the pay ladder; in France, engineering and electrical goods; in Germany, paper, printing and publishing; in Britain, transport and communications. The management work week ranges from 371 hours in Britain to 40 hours in Germany and 45 hours in France. Though the Britons generally get the highest benefits for the least work, their escalator runs slower: since 1959, their net salaries have increased only 19% v. 49% for the Germans.

*Europe's top executives were not included in the survey, but none earn nearly as much as the U.S.'s leader, General Motors Chairman Frederic G. Donner, whose 1963 salary, bonus and extras amounted to $806,248.

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