Lunchtime Links: Bigger bonuses won't compensate for last year's pay collapse

Yes, your bonus will probably be bigger than last year's; no, it probably won't make up for the fact that what you got last year was a mere fraction of what you received the year before: most people are going to be worse off than they were in 2007.

The table below, produced by Options Group, "a leading global executive search, market intelligence and strategic consulting firm with a focus on the financial services industry," suggests who's likely to see their 2008 losses made good this year, and who isn't. Clue: not investment bankers; not structured products traders.

Also notable: APAC bankers are bottom of the bonus accretion league for the first time since 2006.

2009/2010 bonus projections by category:

Source: Options Group

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley will pay record bonuses this year. (Bloomberg)

Barclays planning to avoid all references to bonuses in its interim management statement. (Telegraph)

UBS CFO says morale in the front office has improved and 'traders are getting used to the fact they can take risks again.' (Financial News)

Barclays Wealth has 'accelerated' hiring during the downturn; Vestra intends to hire seven more people next year. (Financial News)

Taxman ends up better off if banks pay bonuses than if they retain the cash and pay

corporation tax on profits. (CityWire)

Are bankers really doing 'God's work'? (Naked Capitalism)

Gordon Brown revives Tobin tax. (FT)

Geithner kills it. (Telegraph)

Tories contemplating a 'super tax' on banks' balance sheets to fund future bailouts. (Telegraph)

Pay freezes and further redundancies at magic circle law firms. (TheTimes)

Jamie Dimon's father will henceforth being working for him. (NewYorkPost)

Who's been hiring in London? (CityAm)

Data released by HBS show that 28% of the MBA class of 2009 chose market-sensitive careers, compared with a record 41% a year earlier. (Dealbreaker)

Getting a new job if you're unemployed in the US is statistically as difficult as getting into Harvard. (CNN)

More than a third of all absenteeism occurs on a Monday. (TheTimes)

How to do less at work and get away with it. (Reuters)