$622k on average per employee = life must suck

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is paying its employees an average of $622,000 this year, after posting the highest profit ever for a securities firm.

The firm set aside $16.5 billion for salaries, bonuses and benefits for its 26,467 employees in the fiscal year ending in November, 40 percent more than it paid out all of last year, according to Goldman's earnings report today. The firm allocated 43.7 percent of its revenue for pay, down from 46.6 percent.

Investment banks benefited this year from rising stock and commodities markets and record share sales and takeovers. Goldman said today full-year profit jumped 70 percent to $9.54 billion, more than the top five firms earned in both 2001 and 2002. Average pay is skewed by the highest earners.

"Everyone who has that big smile when they get their check will also realize that it may not be nearly the same amount next year,'' said Henry Higdon, who runs New York-based executive recruitment company Higdon Partners LLC. A handful of star bankers and traders will get bonuses worth more than $30 million this year, he said. Full article here.