Average bonus paid to New York securities industry employees soared 20% to a record $257,500 last year, state comptroller says Thomas DiNapoli.
The projection, published Wednesday in the Annual Report from New York’s top finance official, includes cash bonuses for 2021 work as well as deferred rewards paid recently, according to DiNapoli.
Higher earnings figures are not unexpected: Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase posted dramatic revenue increases in January, fueled by booming mergers, IPOs and strong activity commercial. In November, compensation consultants said they expected banks to see the biggest bonus increase since 2009.
But DiNapoli’s report highlights the outsized role of Wall Street employees in New York’s financial health. Securities industry jobs make up just 5% of private sector jobs but accounted for 18%, or $14.9 billion, of state tax revenue in fiscal year 2021, a- he declared.
That’s because workers on Wall Street earn nearly five times the average non-finance private sector salary of $92,315, according to the report. Securities workers saw overall compensation climb 7.7% to $438,370 for 2020, according to the latest data available to the comptroller.
There were 180,000 workers in the New York securities industry in 2021, roughly unchanged from the previous year but 10% below its peak twenty years ago. New York remains the nation’s financial capital, although its share of finance jobs has fallen as companies set up new offices in Florida, Texas and other low-tax states.
The fact that Wall Street wages are higher than New York had expected “should help the city exceed its expected income tax revenue,” according to the report. However, the city’s financial plan assumes market activity will slow this year and premiums for the industry will fall by 17%.
“Wall Street’s earnings surge continued to beat expectations in 2021 and generated record bonuses,” DiNapoli said. “In New York, we will not regain our pre-Covid economic strength until more New Yorkers and other sectors – retail, tourism, construction, arts and others – experience the same success. »
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