A third of bonuses are paid in finance sector

The Office for National Statistics has released its analysis of bonus payments in the year to March 2012. A total of £37 billion was paid in bonuses — over a third of it, or £13 billion, in the finance sector.

The total in finance had fallen by 9% over the previous year but still comprised 36% of the overall total, even though only 4% of all employees work in the industry.

The average bonus per person in finance was £12,000, followed by the mining and quarrying sector (including oil extraction and exploration) with average bonuses of £6,900.

Average bonuses in the private sector were £1,700 while in the public sector the average was just £300. The public sector figure includes the nationalised banks; if they are excluded the public sector average was only £100. The average bonus per employee across the whole economy was £1,400 in the year to March 2012, unchanged on the previous year.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_279661.pdf