How much is entertainment worth?
Football match between France and Spain had a high financial weight. The highest paid athlete on the court - Kylian Mbappé - with $110M is ranking sixth among the world's highest-paid athletes.
Number one - Cristiano Ronaldo earned $260M in 2023 and the lowest paid athlete in top 50 ranking - NBA basketball player Devin Booker still earned an impressive $45 million. We seem to be getting used to those numbers, the society decided to pay very high bills for entertainment. Athletes, singers, actors, and other celebrities are among the highest earners globally.
A Paradox of Value and Respect
None of these entertainer jobs, however, appear on lists of the most respected professions. I looked at several sources and you can always find there: doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers. I didn't find them however on the list of top earners. We wouldn't pay nurse or firefighter for savings lifes, but we willingly accept to allocate hundreds of millions to the guys who help us to relax and find joy.
Why are we willing to pay hundreds of millions to individuals who provide entertainment, while those who save lives, educate our children, and protect our communities often struggle for fair compensation?
Using data from the World Salaries website, I calculated the salaries of respected professions relative to the average salary in three countries. Doctors are the only ones earning above average, while nurses, teachers, and police officers earn significantly less, despite being highly respected. In all three countries, these jobs are paid substantially below average, with police officers earning only about 60% of the national average.
Cristiano Ronaldo Equivalents
To illustrate my point further I came up with "Cristiano Ronaldo Equivalents" - This represents the number of people in highly respected jobs that could be hired for Ronaldo's salary.
In Poland, for example, his salary could fund nearly 20,000 police officers, 17,000 teachers, 16,000 nurses, or over 5,000 doctors. In Switzerland, his earnings could hire over 3,000 police officers, 2,000 teachers, 2,000 nurses, or more than 700 doctors. The USA could afford roughly 50% more jobs than Switzerland with the same amount.
Kylian Mbappé Equivalents are also very impressive.
These figures are not meant to vilify high-earning entertainers but to highlight the stark contrast in how our economic system values different contributions to society.
Global HR Department
Every large organization has an HR department dedicated to job grading, salary benchmarking, and performance evaluations, ensuring fair pay aligned with contribution. But how do we measure success in the enterprise of life? Is it through staying healthy, feeling safe, having well-educated children, or enjoying moments like a beer with friends over a football match?
The global economy's incentives favor enjoyable moments, driven by a scalable business environment that generates large revenues. Entertainers benefit from this scalability, unlike those in professions requiring a personal touch, such as nurses and police officers, who cannot scale their work and thus miss out on globalization's benefits.
Is the Free Market Economy Driving Sustainable, Resilient Enterprise of Life?
The free market economy reward system, based on revenue and profits, theoretically aligns with what we value. However, it favors scalability, undermining occupations needing personal interaction and creating extreme inequalities.
The entertainment industry's high earners are symptomatic of a broader trend in global inequality. The Gini coefficient, a standard measure of income distribution, tells a concerning story. Until the 1970s, many countries were making progress in reducing inequality. However, this trend has reversed in recent decades, coinciding with technological advancements that have enabled unprecedented scalability in certain industries.
The United States, for instance, now has a Gini coefficient comparable to levels last seen in the 1840s, highlighting a return to extreme levels of inequality.
For reflection
Systems are sensitive to the reward and effort equation. A system that does not reward the right efforts to stay resilient becomes vulnerable.
Should our definition of "celebrities" expand to include those who have made significant contributions to public health, education, or safety?
Should anyone earn the equivalent of 20,000 police officers?
How can we align the reward system more closely with our values?
What potential consequences might we face if we continue to undervalue professions critical to societal stability and well-being?
Conclusion
The disparity between the earnings of top entertainers and those in traditionally respected professions is not merely a matter of numbers. It reflects deeper questions about our values, the structure of our economy, and the kind of society we wish to build.
As we move forward, it's crucial to consider how we can create a more balanced system – one that continues to reward innovation and global reach while also ensuring that those who perform essential, locally-focused work are valued appropriately. This balance is not just a matter of fairness, but of creating a resilient, sustainable society that can thrive in the face of future challenges.
Resources
The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes - 2023 Forbes list
The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Entertainers - 2023 Forbes list
10 most respected professions in the world - World Economic Forum article published in 2019
20 most respected professional in the world - Insider Monkey article published in 2023
World Salaries - salary benchmarks for over 200 countries
Following your concept "pay for respect" I would throw another intriguing example. Why do luxury brands like Rolex never show their ads during football tournaments? Why footballers are not brand ambassadors and instead they chose Roger Federer or Tiger Woods or F1 championships? The answer is respect :) According to Rolex there are many much more respected sports and games. Football is common and for masses and if sth is for mass is neither unique nor exclusive. Even a rare individual like Ronaldo would never advertise Rolex. He is rare and unique but his game and association isn't.
I belive this is a fundamental topic! Unreasonable, as shown in a perfect way in the article, discrepancies between values and ... what? Emotions? gives us a picture of our world on sand foundations... Sad ...