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City bonuses down 13% on last year
Nicholas Cecil and Jonathan Prynn26.03.08
City bonuses slumped at the start of the year, official figures reveal today.
They fell 13 per cent in January compared with a year earlier. Total bonuses - as a weekly average for the one million people employed in the City - dropped from £786 in January 2007 to £681 for the first month of this year, down £105.
Some bonuses may have been delayed but the figures appeared to confirm lower special pay-outs in December, which were down from an average of £281 to £140.
Despite the fall from record bonuses last year, the figures are still higher than in 2006, when the average weekly bonus for January was £550.
The Office for National Statistics data came after Goldman Sachs warned of cuts to pay and bonuses. On average, its employees could get £200,000 this year, compared with more than £300,000 last year.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable welcomed the fall but warned it could be a sign of gloomier economic times.
