If you’re fortunate enough to gain an internship in an M&A or sales and trading role in investment bank in the City of London or on Wall Street this summer, you can expect to £810 to £870 pounds per week ($1.4k to $1.5k) Even though you haven’t left university, that will put you among the top earners of all ages.
As the chart below, taken from the Office of National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Weekly Hours and Earnings shows, median weekly pay across all industries and services in the UK is just £400 a week. Even the highest paid sector (mining and quarrying) only pays a median average of just over £800.
Early 20-something banking interns are particularly privileged alongside their own age cohort. As the second chart below shows, the average 18-21 year-old earns less than £300 pounds a week. Only when (men) hit 40-49 do they get anywhere near the amount banks pay their interns – and even then, median weekly earnings peak at 25% less than intern pay.
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These are the sorts of people who are summer analysts at GS, JPM and Deutsche this year