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Michael
Oct 15th 2009, 10:45 AM
Wall Street On Track To Award Record Pay

Major U.S. banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their employees about $140 billion this year -- a record high that shows compensation is rebounding despite regulatory scrutiny of Wall Street's pay culture.

Workers at 23 top investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers and stock and commodities exchanges can expect to earn even more than they did the peak year of 2007, according to an analysis of securities filings for the first half of 2009 and revenue estimates through year-end by The Wall Street Journal.

Total compensation and benefits at the publicly traded firms analyzed by the Journal are on track to increase 20% from last year's $117 billion -- and to top 2007's $130 billion payout. This year, employees at the companies will earn an estimated $143,400 on average, up almost $2,000 from 2007 levels.

he growth in compensation reflects Wall Street firms' rapid return to precrisis revenue levels. Even as the economy is sluggish and unemployment approaches 10%, these firms have been boosted by a stronger stock market, thawing credit market, a resurgence in deal making and the continuing effects of various government aid programs.

Source (http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125547830510183749-lMyQjAxMDI5NTE1NDQxNzQ4Wj.html)

Surprise, surprise! :lol:

Is anyone even remotely surprised by this?

Lily
Oct 15th 2009, 11:37 AM
Not me. "Greed is good," Gordon Gekko, in Wall Street.

On a side note, it's amusing that a gekko is a large-headed lizard who can lick its eyeballs and expel feces toward its enemies.

Michael
Oct 15th 2009, 03:31 PM
Here's a little graph that shows a rather interesting trend. As far as I know, this trend is broadly similar to the aggregate data for the USA.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/relativeeducationsmall.png

In other words, high wages for highly educated people is the 'long term norm'. What is strikingly unusual is the period from the 1940's to the 1980's when high wages were paid to non-educated people.

As I always expected, the practice of paying $100,000 to uneducated workers is unsustainable and non-profitable. Indeed, I think it would be interesting to study how this was possible during those decades.