Conclusive proof that big bonuses were an aberration
For anyone still living under the delusion that bonuses paid in 2006 and 2007 were even vaguely normal, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has produced some figures showing that they were, in fact, hideous mutants.
The ONS has only been assimilating figures for total UK financial services bonuses since 2001. Even so, the fluctuations are huge:
2001: 6.5bn
2002: 6bn
2003: 5.5bn
2004: 7.5bn
2005: 9bn
2006: 11bn
2007: 16bn
2008: 16bn
With a mean of 9.6bn, the payouts of 2007 and 2008 were 65% above the norm for the past eight years. And given that most of the past eight years - with the exception of 2002 and 2003 - weren't too bad for banking, the mean itself may be an aberration. It would be no surprise if the UK's bonus pool is a third of last year's amount for the foreseeable future.
