The wages of finance

Average Hourly Earnings of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees,
Financial Activities versus the whole Private Sector

The Difference in Average Hourly Earnings:

Graph #1: Difference between average wages in finance and the private sector overall
at the grunt level

I subtracted the "Total Private" average wage from the "Financial Activities" average wage to see the difference. The Financial Activities wage was less than the Total Private wage until 1992. Since 1992, the Financial Activities wage has been the bigger number.

In the 1960s the average hourly wage in finance was 25 to 30 cents less than the private sector average.

In 1979, finance was a dollar less.

In January 1982, finance was $1.15 less. That was the low point for finance.

In December 1991, the financial wage was two cents less than the overall average.

In February 1992 the financial wage was two cents more than the private sector number.

In July 1998 finance was a dollar more than the private sector average.

In August 2003 finance was $2.08 more.

In May 2012, $3.01 more.

In May 2014, $4.06 more.

And in August 2023, the average grunt-level financial wage was $5.07 more than the average for all the grunts in the private sector.

But if you ask me, none of these numbers matter. What matters is the unrelenting uptrend visible in every aspect of finance.