Wall Street cheers, but others struggle in NYC

Bonuses for Wall Street securities industry workers last year jumped by more than 20 percent from 2020, with the average payout hitting $257,500, according to an annual report from the New York state comptroller.

According to annual estimates from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, bonuses for 2020 also set a record at the time, having jumped 25 percent from the previous year despite the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, the average salary for securities professionals, including bonus, was $438,370－nearly five times the average annual pay of $92,315 for the rest of the private sector in New York.

The record bonuses came as 1.5 million New Yorkers faced a hunger crisis, with many struggling to find enough food to eat amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, when many lost their jobs, according to City Harvest, the city's largest food rescue organization.

At least one in four children in New York, amounting to 462,000, also experienced food insecurity, a 46 percent rise amid the pandemic, the organization found.

In 2021, the five biggest investment banks paid out $142 billion in compensation, about $18 billion more than in 2020.

But DiNapoli warns that this year may be different.

"Wall Street's soaring profits continued to beat expectations in 2021 and drove record bonuses," said DiNapoli, but he also noted that recent events－the turbulence in markets and the Russia-Ukraine conflict－are "likely to drive near-term profitability and bonuses lower".

"In New York, we won't get back to our pre-COVID economic strength until more New Yorkers and more sectors－retail, tourism, construction, the arts and others－enjoy similar success," he said on Wednesday in his report.

New York is the nation's headquarters for the securities industry, employing at least 180,000 people.

They make up 5 percent of the private sector in New York and a fifth of all wages, DiNapoli's office said. He estimates that one in nine jobs in the city are connected to the industry.

DiNapoli estimated that the securities industry accounted for 18 percent, or $14.9 billion, of state tax collections in the state's 2021 fiscal year, and 7 percent or $4.7 billion of city tax collections in the 2021 fiscal year, which should help New York City beat its expectations for income tax revenue, the report said.