Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

City bonuses climb to 30% of salary – six times the national average, reports Joslin Rowe

Joslin Rowe, financial services recruiter, has reported that across the financial services sector, bonus pay outs are expected to rise 12.3% year on year. This is more than double the rate of growth for bonuses in the wider economy, where across the UK bonuses are expected to rise 5.8%.

High-fliers in City jobs are predicted to earn a bonus on average equivalent to 79.5% of their salary. The top 3.2% of financial services workers are expecting at least 100% bonuses.

Tara Ricks, MD of Joslin Rowe said: “It’s the big hitters who expect more than 50% of their salary in bonuses – the private bankers, the corporate financiers. A lucky minority will earn several multiples of their basic salary. The booming stock market and blistering levels of M&A in 2006 have obviously played their part in inflating the numbers paid out in 2007.”

“But there's another factor at play. Bonuses are an increasingly important management tool. Although, employees now expect them as part of their annual compensation and top performers are being increasingly tempted to move company with large guaranteed bonus packages, employers are increasingly sophisticated in allocating the bonus pool to reward their best workers.”

43.3% of those working in banking and finance jobs asked said they expected their bonus pay out to be larger this year than last year. An unlucky minority, 12.7% thought they would take a bonus cut and 44.2% expected no change in their bonus compared to the previous year.

Although not all workers will pocket the mega-money, the financial services employment sector is still a very good place to be this year. Among the 300,000 people working in the City (earning an average of £47,116) bonuses are expected to rise to £13,607 or 28.9% of salary.

However this is still substantially more than the national average. The overall bonus an average UK employee will earn is set to hit £1,874, just 7.5% of the £25,152 average salary, and in cash terms, less than one sixth of what the average financial services worker will see in their pay packets in the early part of 2007.

Notes to Editors:

About Joslin Rowe:

Established in 1982 Joslin Rowe provides the financial services sector with comprehensive finance, accountancy and banking recruitment across the UK and Ireland. On 7 April 2006, international staffing sevices company Vedior (headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands) raised its stake in Joslin Rowe’s parent company, The Blomfield Group, from 18% to 70%.

For further info/interviews, contact:

Belinda Martin
Communications & relations manager
Joslin Rowe
7 Castle Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3AH
press@joslinrowe.com
http://www.joslinrowe.com/
Tel:- +44 7789 682 754