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Wall Street Bonuses Rose 2% in 2014 To $172,860: 427% Increase In 20 Years

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Finally some good news for brokers of ultra-luxury Manhattan real estate. Following the recent freeze in the most expensive housing segment in NYC in which "deals slowed to a trickle" as a result of the soaring US Dollar, and the crack down on offshore illegal wealth, it appeared that the final housing bubble left in the US that has yet to pop, that which focuses on properties $5 million and higher, was on the edge. Its day or reckoning may be delayed, however, following news that the most traditional buyer of high-end Manhattan real estate, Wall Street bankers themselves, may be finally coming back following a 2% increase in Wall Street bonuses in 2014, which pushed the average bonus to $172,860.

Bonuses were higher despite a 4.5% decline in total Wall Street profits in 2014 from $16.7 billion to $16.0 billion, mostly as a result of the criminal Wall Street cartel being exposed for all the world to see, and forced to pay a quarterly racket fee to its protector, the US government, in the form of recurring "non-recurring, one-time" legal fees, charges and settlements (amounting to $178 billion in the past 6 years!).

Total bonus comp in 2014 hit $28.5 billion, up from $27.6 billion the year before. By comparison, the entire bonus pool two decades ago, in 1994, were "only" 4.9 billion: a cumulative increase of 482%. Comparably, the average bonus of $172,860 in 2014 was up 437% in two decade.

More details from the DiNapoli report:

  • The bonus pool for securities industry employees who work in New York City grew by 3 percent during the traditional December-March bonus season to reach $28.5 billion for 2014. The Comptroller’s estimates includes cash bonuses for the current year and bonuses deferred from prior years that have been cashed in. The current budgets for New York State and New York City both assume a small increase in bonuses, consistent with DiNapoli’s forecast;
  • The average bonus rose by 2 percent to $172,860 in 2014, the highest level since the financial crisis. The growth in the average bonus was much stronger in the two previous years when bonuses increased by a total of 52 percent. The increase in the average bonus in 2014 was a bit smaller than the increase in the bonus pool (3 percent) because the pool was shared among a larger number of employees than in the prior year;
  • Non-compensation expenses, which include the cost of legal settlements, increased from an annual average of about $40 billion during the eight years prior to the financial crisis to $61 billion in 2013 and remained at an elevated level in 2014 ($62.8 billion). The securities industry does not disaggregate settlements costs from other non-compensation expenses, which also includes items such as rent, communications and commissions;
  • The securities industry in New York City lost 28,000 jobs during the financial crisis. Although the industry added jobs during the early part of the recovery, it resumed downsizing after August 2011. The number of securities industry jobs in New York City averaged 167,800 in 2014, 11 percent fewer than before the financial crisis (2007). New York City’s share of the nation’s securities industry jobs also declined during this period from 20.9 percent in 2007 to 19 percent in 2014;
  • Although the securities industry is smaller, it is still one of New York City’s most powerful economic engines. The industry, for example, accounted for almost 21 percent of all private sector wages paid in New York City in 2013 even though it accounted for less than 5 percent of the city’s private sector jobs. An estimated 1 in 9 jobs in the city are either directly or indirectly associated with the securities industry;
  • Unlike in prior economic recoveries, the securities industry has not been a driving force in the current jobs recovery in New York City. So far, the securities industry has accounted for less than 2 percent of the private sector jobs added, compared with 10 percent during the two prior recoveries;
  • The securities industry in New York City added 2,300 jobs in 2014, after years of downsizing. Although the job gains continued into January 2015, it remains to be seen whether this trend will be sustained throughout 2015.

And here is why - visually - while wages across the rest of the US continue to be flat and decline in real terms, the party on Wall Street continues.

Source

 

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Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:26 | 5877878 Big Corked Boots
Big Corked Boots's picture

A meagre 2% increase means less cash for Ukie babes accustomed to poles.

No, not those Poles.

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:26 | 5877879 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

bankster species : hyaena

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:26 | 5877882 Pooper Popper
Pooper Popper's picture

"Looks like banksters are back on the menu boys"!

 

fighting uruk hai

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:27 | 5877884 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

That is like a $500 hooker for 300 nights a year. Plus a nice big bag of blow. 

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:31 | 5877885 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

Who says crime does not pay?

The top 0.1% now have more wealth than the bottom 90% in the land of the free.  Well done, Mr Nobel Prize Winner.  Forward.

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 13:09 | 5878095 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Yeah, a great paying job if your willing to sell your soul......

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:27 | 5877894 SHEEPFUKKER
SHEEPFUKKER's picture

Wall Street bone-us. 

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:28 | 5877897 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

EFFICIENT MARKET HYPOTHESIS

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:30 | 5877907 maskone909
maskone909's picture

lmfao!!!  centipede the movie was actually a political documentary

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:34 | 5877920 Kaiser Sousa
Kaiser Sousa's picture

hey William, u left out the MoneyChangers above Wall St.....

just saying...

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:29 | 5877898 maskone909
maskone909's picture
Jean Keller, California Prison Nurse, Nets $270,000 Income Thanks To Overtime

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/jean-keller-prison-nurse-nets-2...

 

sheeit.  i am applying as we speak. 

 

 

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:29 | 5877902 Bloppy
Bloppy's picture

Hope they're saving those bonuses, this baby is about to crash and burn.

 

Sarah NAILS Hillary with one photo comparison:

http://tinyurl.com/mr5pjtn

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:36 | 5877929 Took Red Pill
Took Red Pill's picture

saving won't do much good in a NIRP environment. I'd stock up on PM's if I were them. They're on sale right now!

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:37 | 5877934 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

you're a good dog janet

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 12:38 | 5877941 unplugged
unplugged's picture

the black hats are still winning

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 13:11 | 5878105 Fred Hayek
Fred Hayek's picture

Well, the bonuses are compensation for the horrible realization that they all eventually come to that they're utterly useless to the economy and that they've wasted their lives, lives which they dimly remember once included rudimentary forms of conscience and souls.

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 13:13 | 5878117 thamnosma
thamnosma's picture

Utah just authorized the return of the firing squad.  Just need a few dedicated prosecutors.

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 18:06 | 5879340 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

An efficient killing "mechanism", especially for the processing of larger numbers of "clients" (as has been clearly and repeatedly demonstrated by many despotic regimes over the past decades).

So, remind me who "owns" the US "Legal System"??

Be careful what you wish for . . . . . . . .

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 13:19 | 5878146 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

While Main Street private sector (all 3 of them) is still getting sodomized, it's amazing to see this.

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 13:51 | 5878318 TruthBeforeAll
TruthBeforeAll's picture

They are not bonuses, they are payoffs for them to all keep their mouths shut.

Wed, 03/11/2015 - 21:08 | 5879959 red1chief
red1chief's picture

Wow, $178 billion so Washington turns the other cheek on the Ponzi scheme. I'm all for a free market, but the free market would never support such absurd levels of compensation for the do-little banksters. Wonder how big the pyramid can get before it implodes, and how big the hole is that the taxpayers will eventually be forced to fill...Then gonna have to get real serious about "entitlement" cuts after the next crash, 'cause deficits and spending are bad, ya know.

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