Goldman Sachs is Paying Its Employees 15% More This Year

Goldman Sachs announced its third quarter results today saying that profits are up 191% over 2011 and that average compensation per employee has increased 15% in the first nine months of 2012 versus the same period last year.

Goldman’s revenues are up 9%. This looks pretty good compared to arch rival JPMorgan, where investment banking profits fell 15% year-on-year in the first nine months and revenues were down 6%.

Average compensation at Goldman stood at $336.400, for the first three quarters, implying that the average Goldman banker will earn $449,000 for the full year.

JPMorgan investment bankers may feel envious: their pay fell 6.9% in the first nine months and they are on track to earn $359,000. In other words, the average Goldman banker earns 25% more than the average investment banker at JPMorgan.

There was also little sign of redundancies at Goldman in the third quarter: the bank increased headcount by 300 people.