JP Morgan Bumps Junior Banker Pay For The Second Time In A Year

In keeping up with the continual fight to retain and recruit talent, JP Morgan is reportedly raising pay for its junior bankers for the second time in a year.

1st-year investment banking analysts are now set to make $110,000, up from $100,000, The Business Times reported on Wednesday morning. 2nd-year analyst pay will also jump up to $125,000 and 3rd-year pay will rise to $135,000. 

Citigroup is also increasing pay after a blockbuster year in 2021, moving base salaries for junior bankers up to $110,000. 

Despite the pay raises, it looks like the attitude on Wall Street could be shifting away from coddling junior bankers, we noted late last year, which banks have been doing ever since rogue Goldman Sachs employees made and publicized a slide deck about how tough working conditions were at the bank.

Recall in November 2021, we noted that Morgan Stanley was also pushing junior bankers to get back to the office. Morgan Stanley’s CEO James Gorman led the charge to return to normal late last year. Chris O’Dea, a Morgan Stanley managing director, said on a conference call to employees late last year: “If you’re 21 to 35, you are nuts not to be in the office all the time.”

Gorman threatened a pay cut for those who didn’t come back to the office last year. He said last summer: “I fundamentally believe the way you and I develop our career is by being mentored and by watching and experiencing the professional skills of those who came before us. You can’t do that sitting at home by yourself — there’s a limit to Zoom technology.”

Gorman may be taking his cues from Cantor Fitzgerald’s CEO, Howard Lutnick, who was the first to vocally push back on junior bankers this past summer. Lutnick said that junior bankers complaining about long hours and stressful demands should “rethink their career choice”.

Lutnick’s comments followed 13 junior bankers at Goldman complaining about their workload early in 2021 in a slide deck that was released to the public. They claimed to be working 100 hour weeks and experiencing declining physical and mental health. The public scrutiny caused other banks to offer bonuses and rewards to retain their younger talent.

Recall, last year, we noted that Evercore was now paying its junior bankers up to $120,000 per year. Second year analysts at Evercore will make $130,000 and third year analysts will make $140,000. 

Guggenheim has also raised its first year analyst pay to $110,000. First-year analysts across the global corporate and investment banking, markets, and research at Bank of America will now receive $100,000 per year, up from $95,000. Second year analysts will make $105,000 per year and third year analysts will make $110,000. 

Last year we also noted that Jefferies announced it was going to be raising pay for its first year analysts in the U.S. to $110,000. The bump in pay is a raise of $25,000 from their previous starting salary of $85,000 per year. Second year analysts will make $125,000, up from $95,000 and third year analysts, called associates, will move up to $150,000 per year from $125,000. 

Lutnick said it best last summer: “Young bankers who decide they’re working too hard — choose another living is my view. These are hard jobs.”