Wall street salaries hit highest level since 2008

The average salary on Wall Street last year hit the highest level since the Great Recession, marking the third-largest amount on record, according to a new report.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a report Monday that put the 2017 average annual salary, including bonuses, in the securities industry at $422,500, a 13 percent increase over the previous year. The dollar amount ranks as the third highest when adjusted for inflation.

{mosads}“The securities industry has the highest average salary of any industry in New York City, and accounted for 21 percent of all private sector wages in 2017 even though it accounted for less than 5 percent of employment,” the report said.

Even before accounting for taxes, the securities industry has seen its profits soar. From 2015 to 2016, Wall Street profits rose 21 percent. Last year they jumped 42 percent, reaching $24.5 billion. In the first half of this year they were on track to climb 11 percent compared to 2017.

“Wall Street has profited every year since the end of the recession in 2009, and compensation last year reached its highest point since the financial crisis,” DiNapoli said.

The figures in the report do not take into account the massive corporate tax breaks included in the GOP tax reform bill from late 2017 that lowered corporate rates to 21 percent from 35 percent.

Democrats say the 2017 tax law was a corporate giveaway, while Republicans credit it for boosting the economy.

President Trump has floated a proposal that would take inflation into account in calculating capital gains, a move that would be a boon for the finance industry and the nation’s wealthiest residents.

Updated at 5:13 p.m.