Economix Blog: Bankers’ Salaries vs. Everyone Else’s

Why are the Occupy Wall Streeters so angry at bankers? This chart might give you some idea:

Via New York State Comptroller report.

That chart is from a new report from the New York State Comptroller’s office on the securities industry in New York City.

It shows that the average salary in the industry in 2010 was $361,330 — five and a half times the average salary in the rest of the private sector in the city ($66,120). By contrast, 30 years ago such salaries were only twice as high as in the rest of the private sector.

CATHERINE RAMPELL

Dollars to doughnuts.

Last year helped contribute to the widening of that gap, too.

That’s not to say that bankers have job security.

The overall financial services sector was disproportionately hit by the financial crisis. The sector employs just 12 percent of the city’s work force, but accounted for one out of every three jobs lost in the recession. Some (not all) of those jobs were regained, but the comptroller’s office says the industry “is likely to experience significant job losses over the course of the next year.”

In particular, the securities sub-sector of financial services “could lose an additional 10,000 jobs by the end of 2012, which would bring total job losses in the industry to 32,000 since January 2008,” the report said.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=4df0eda5ba7f1035d6b1288ea644ff66