Study finds top earners less intelligent than lower-ranked workers

If you’ve ever suspected your boss might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, we finally have proof that you might just be onto something.

If you’ve ever felt that you’re much smarter than your boss, you’re not alone.

And now, new research published in the European Sociological Review late last month has finally revealed what many hardworking employees have long suspected – that the top earners might not necessarily be the brightest crayons in the box.

The study did find a link between higher intelligence and higher wages – but only up to a reasonably modest annual salary of 600,000 Swedish krona ($A83,320).

It’s all the more interesting, given that last August’s earnings report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the average full-time worker makes $1769.80 a week, or $92,029.60 a year (pre-tax) in this country.

And in another twist, the study also found that people in the top 1 per cent of earners are actually slightly less intelligent than workers in the next income rung down.

“In debates about interventions against large wage discrepancies, a common defence of top earners is the superior merit inferred from their job-market success using human capital arguments,” the authors wrote.

“However, along an important dimension of merit — cognitive ability — we find no evidence that those with top jobs that pay extraordinary wages are more deserving than those who earn only half those wages.

People in the top 1 per cent of earners are actually slightly less intelligent that workers in the next income rung down. Picture: iStock

“Above a threshold level of wage, cognitive-ability levels are above average but play no role in differentiating wages.

“Extreme occupational success is more likely driven by family resources or luck than by ability.”

The study, which was led by Marc Keuschnigg from Sweden’s Linköping University, studied the cognitive ability of almost 60,000 men who participated in an intelligence test as part of Sweden’s compulsory military service, before tracking their wages over 11 years.

Women were excluded from the survey, as military service was not compulsory for women in the past, when the data was collected.

Meanwhile, Prof Keuschnigg noted that as Sweden has a low income gap overall, the disparity was likely to be even more pronounced in other nations, such as Singapore or the US.

“The decisions that top earners make are consequential for a lot of people,” he said.

“So we as a society might want to have the right people in these top positions.”

Once you factor in overtime, penalty rates, bonuses and commission, the average full-time weekly total earnings in Australia is $1835.20 a week, which raises the average before-tax annual wage to more than $95,000.

However, the average weekly earnings for all employers, including casual and part-time workers was $1344.70, or an annual wage of $69,924.40 a year before tax.