Industry Earnings
Earnings of nonsupervisory bank employees involved in depository credit intermediation averaged $494 a week in May 2004, compared with $684 for all workers in finance and insurance industries, and $529 for workers throughout the private sector. Relatively low pay in the banking industry reflects the high proportion of low-paying administrative support jobs.
Earnings in the banking industry vary significantly by occupation. Earnings in the largest occupations in banking appear in table 3.
| Occupation | Depository credit intermediation | All industries |
|---|---|---|
Financial managers | $31.02 | $39.37 |
Loan officers | 21.38 | 23.48 |
First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers | 17.78 | 19.72 |
Executive secretaries and administrative assistants | 16.52 | 16.81 |
Loan interviewers and clerks | 13.13 | 13.94 |
New accounts clerks | 12.84 | 12.91 |
Customer service representatives | 12.57 | 12.99 |
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks | 12.33 | 13.74 |
Office clerks, general | 11.21 | 10.95 |
Tellers | 10.17 | 10.15 |
In general, greater responsibilities result in a higher salary. Experience, length of service, and, especially, the location and size of the bank also are important. In addition to typical benefits, equity sharing and performance-based pay increasingly are part of compensation packages for some bank employees. As banks encourage employees to become more sales-oriented, incentives are increasingly tied to meeting sales goals, and some workers may even receive commissions for sales or referrals. As in other industries, part-time workers do not enjoy the same benefits that full-time workers do.
Very few workers in the banking industry are unionized—only 2 percent are union members or are covered by union contracts, compared with 14 percent of workers throughout private industry.