The Bank of England boss urged workers not to ask for big pay rises, to help stop prices rising out of control.
Andrew Bailey told the BBC wage rises needed to be moderate with firms showing "restraint" in pay talks.
When asked whether the Bank was asking workers not to demand big pay rises, Bailey, said: "Broadly, yes." Bailey was paid £575,538 including pension, in the year from 1 March 2020, more than 18 times higher the median annual pay of £31,285 for full-time employees.
The GMB union branded the comments a "sick joke", while the TUC said calls for pay restraint were "ill-founded".
"Telling the hard-working people who carried this country through the pandemic they don't deserve a pay rise is outrageous. It's a sick joke," said Gary Smith, GMB's general secretary.
TUC head of economics Kate Bell said increasing pay at a slower rate would "make the squeeze on family budgets even tighter".
"Energy prices are pushing up inflation - not wage demands. Britain needs a pay rise - not another decade of lost pay and living standards," she added.
And Unite lead Sharon Graham said workers did not need "lectures" from Mr Bailey "on exercising pay restraint".
"Let's be clear, pay restraint is nothing more than a call for a national pay cut."
Inflation, the rate at which prices are rising, is on course to rise above 7% this year and average close to 6% in 2022.
This means prices are expected to climb faster than pay, putting the biggest squeeze on household finances in decades, with workers set to experience the biggest hit to their take-home income since 1990.
The High Pay Centre think tank said Bailey's comments were "frankly absurd" and "insulting".
It said the cost of living hike followed more than a decade of wages stagnating, during which the top executives were paid 86 times more than the average worker.
Backlash after Bank boss says don't ask for big pay rise - BBC News
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