Wall Street 2021 Bonuses Soared 20%, Far Above Inflation and Nearly 5 Times the Increase in US Average Weekly Earnings

Unlike hourly wage data, average weekly earnings reflect the fact that many Americans had to cut back on work hours last year, largely due to Covid-related illness, lack of child care, and other family care pressures. The average weekly hours worked by U.S. private sector employees dropped from 35.0 to 34.5 between 2020 and 2021.

Return to Pre-Financial Crash Bonus Levels

The average Wall Street bonus of $257,500 in 2021 was far higher than any year since the 2008 financial crash. The second-highest was the 2017 average bonus of $209,046, adjusted for inflation. These bonuses come on top of base salaries, which averaged $254,000 in 2020.

Wall Street pay v. the minimum wage

• Since 1985, the average Wall Street bonus has increased 1,743.24, from $13,970 to $257,500 in 2021 (not adjusted for inflation). If the minimum wage had increased at that rate, it would be worth $61.75 today, instead of $7.25.
• The total bonus pool for 180,000 New York City-based Wall Street employees in 2021 was $45 billion -- enough to pay for more than 1 million jobs paying $15 per hour for a year.

Wall Street bonuses and gender and racial inequality

The rapid increase in Wall Street bonuses over the past several decades has contributed to gender and racial inequality, since workers at the low end of the wage scale are disproportionately people of color and women, while the lucrative financial industry is overwhelmingly white and male, particularly at the upper echelons.

• The share of the five largest U.S. investment banks' senior executives and top managers who are male: JPMorgan Chase: 74%, Goldman Sachs: 75%, Bank of America: 64%, Morgan Stanley: 74%, and Citigroup: 64%.
• In 2021, the leadership of the largest Wall Street banks became slightly more diverse when Jane Fraser, a white woman, became the first female leader of a top-tier U.S. investment bank. The CEOs of the other four banks in that tier are all white males.
• Nationwide, men make up 62 percent of all securities industry employees but just a tiny fraction of workers who provide care services that are in high demand but continue to be very low paid. Men make up just 5.4 percent of childcare workers, an occupation that pays $26,790 per year, on average. Men make up just 13 percent of home health aides, who average $27,080 per year.
• At the five largest U.S. investment banks, the share of executives and top managers who are Black: JPMorgan Chase: 5%, Goldman Sachs: 3%, Bank of America: 5%, Morgan Stanley: 3%, and Citigroup: 4%.
• Nationally, Black workers hold just 7.2 percent of lucrative securities industry jobs but 27.4 percent of home care and 16.3 percent of child care jobs.

"These jaw-dropping numbers are just the latest evidence of unequal sacrifice under the pandemic," notes Institute for Policy Studies Global Economy Director and report author Sarah Anderson. "While ordinary workers are struggling with rising costs for basic essentials, Wall Street bankers have seen their bonuses soar further into the stratosphere."

Anderson urged long overdue action to crack down on runaway Wall Street pay. Since 2010, the year the Dodd-Frank financial reform became law, regulators have failed to implement that law's Wall Street pay restrictions. Throughout this entire period, Congress has also failed to raise the federal minimum wage.

"These two failures speak volumes about who has influence in Washington -- and who does not," Anderson said.

Powerful Wall Street lobbyists have succeeded in blocking Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank legislation, which prohibits financial industry pay packages that encourage "inappropriate risks." Regulators were supposed to implement this new rule within nine months of the law's passage but have dragged their feet -- despite widespread recognition that these bonuses encouraged the high-risk behaviors that led to the 2008 financial crisis, costing millions of Americans their homes and livelihoods.

In contrast to the Wall Street lobbyists, advocates for the working poor have seen their efforts to raise the federal minimum wage and secure other important benefits for working families stalled in Congress.

"Due to Washington inaction, millions of essential workers continue to earn poverty wages, while the reckless bonus culture is alive and well on Wall Street," Anderson said.

A more detailed report with interactive charts is available at this link.

The Institute for Policy Studies is a 59-year-old multi-issue research center in Washington, D.C. Previous IPS analyses of the Wall Street bonus pool have received extensive press coverage, including in CBS Moneywatch, Yahoo Finance, Newsweek, CNN, and this New York Times editorial. IPS also manages the website Inequality.org, which serves as a portal into all things related to income and wealth gaps. Twitter: @inequalityorg