Entry-level workers in the U.S. finance sector are making more than any of their counterparts around the world — and hefty 2023 bonuses helped widen that gulf.
Analysts, the most junior-level position at most U.S. finance firms, made an average of $232,112, according to a newly published survey by financial careers site eFinancialCareers. The next-highest earners are in the UK with an average total compensation of $148,283 — nearly 57% lower than analysts across the pond.
Meanwhile, European analysts brought in an average of $127,998 and those in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region made $110,938.
Analysts in the U.S. widened their salary lead in 2023 thanks to a 20% increase in their average bonuses, up to $95,270 from $79,286 a year prior. Bonuses in the UK, on the other hand, were in the red, dropping 2.8% between 2022 and 2023 to an average of $57,658. Europeans saw the largest increase in average bonuses, booking a 49% jump to $59,921, and APAC analysts saw a 9.5% rise in average bonuses to $35,938.
But while those at the entry-level in the U.S. reaped the benefits of high salaries and big bonuses, senior level positions lag behind their equals in other parts of the world. Managing directors in the U.S. lagged behind both UK and APAC directors in terms of total compensation — and saw smaller increases in their bonuses than both of the latter. (Managing directors in the UK made $942,147 on average, making them the highest paid bankers in the world.)
European managing directors were the only ones to see smaller average total compensation than those in the U.S., and saw a decline in their bonuses between 2022 and 2023.
The survey noted that the pivot to analyst pay — and away from higher level pay — in the U.S. “reflects a desire to keep juniors on board,” with one New York-based Morgan Stanley director telling eFinancialCareers that “senior staff was disproportionately cut to keep VPs and under happy.”
On the whole, banking sector workers in the U.S. were still the best paid last year, receiving $376,146 in average total compensation and bringing in an average of $153,329 in bonuses — a 5.3% increase from 2022.