BONUSES
£14 billion paid out in City bonuses last year
The finance sector paid out bonuses worth £14 billion in 2010-11, according to official figures. This is identical to the previous year’s bonus pot but higher than the 2008-09 figure of £12 billion.
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Figures from the Office for National Statistics show:
Only 4% of employees work in finance and insurance, but they account for nearly 40% of total bonuses in the financial year 2010-11.
Information and Communication also accounts for a large share of bonus payments (11%) relative to its size (4% of employment).
The average financial sector bonus per employee was £12,500.
Financial sector bonus payments however remain significantly below the levels seen during the peak years of 2006-07 and 2007-08, when the bonuses paid totalled £19 billion and accounted for more than 45% of all bonus payments.
Bonus payments in the rest of the economy totalled £21 billion in 2010-11.
The average private sector worker received £1,670 in bonuses, nearly ten times higher than the average public sector bonus of £180. ONS said: “However, private sector workers are on average in receipt of lower regular pay than people working in the public sector; bonuses are a more significant part of total pay in the private sector.”
Want to know more?
Title: Bonus Payments in 2010-11, by Anu Alander and Eric Crane, Office for National Statistics, July 2011.
Availability: You can download the article in PDF format, free of charge, at www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=2062.