The average Wall Street bonus for 2009 was marginally lower than for 2000

Much is being made of the newly released figures from the New York State Comptroller indicating a 17% year on year increase in the Wall Street bonus pool, to $203bn.

Less is being mentioned about the fact that, in real terms, the average bonus per head on Wall Street for 2009 was actually marginally lower than it was in 2000.

Taking the comptroller's pay per head figures dating back to 1985, and adjusting them to 2010 prices, pay per head in 2009 was $125k; in 2000 it was $126k.

As our graph below shows, however, the trend is most definitely upwards.

At 2010 prices, the average bonus per year between 1985 and 1990 was a mere $31k; beween 1990 and 1999 it was $72k. And between 2001 and 2009 it was $133k.

Will the average annual bonus exceed $200k between now and 2019? Somehow, that seems unlikely.