A new report [pdf] from the New York State Comptrollers office tells us what we already know: people who work in finance make a lot of money. But the gap between those in the financial sector and everyone else didn't use to be so wide. In 2010 the average salary of an employee in the securities industry was $361,330, five times the $66,120 salary of everyone else in the private sector. Thirty years ago they only made twice as much as everyone else. But let's not get too upset: they did bail the rest of us out a few years ago.
The Times points out that bankers don't really have much job security, as the finance industry accounted for one out of every three jobs lost since the recession began, and they only account for 12% of the city's workers. So they need those high salaries just to hold onto their girlfriends!
