I agree we need to see more. I like the point about hours worked, this would be interesting. Many of my supposedly well paid friends don’t make such great coin on a per-hour basis.

There’s also something around the type of work done, or the quality. Some entry level grad roles look very similar (esp. from the IALS point of view) to senior business analyst roles. In practise, these jobs are markedly different in terms of the value they add, but also the scarcity of the labour that can fill the role.

Being a CEO or senior executive requires only the most basic technical skills: reading documents and talking to people. They are paid a lot because they see things that others don’t when they read documents, and are also able to hold converstations that other’s can’t.

Back to your original question, and using law firms as specific example, workers are possibly better utilised at big law firms since they will be diversified across more business areas/partners bringing in work. This effect would probably be countered somewhat byu the greater job security a diversified firm offers thus meaning workers would be willing to accept a lower wage.