The global exchange-traded fund industry is willing to pay a premium for junior staffers.
While the average total compensation across the industry last year rose 10% to $265,000 from a year earlier, total compensation for analysts -- considered entry-level workers in the industry -- jumped by 42% to $87,000, according to a survey led by Blackwater Search & Advisory, a Europe-based ETF and digital assets recruiting firm.
The trend underscores the talent shortage in the broader finance world. Companies grew desperate for new recruits as work piled up during the pandemic. Top-level banks, for example, followed rivals to bump up the base pay for young workers, with the sticker price for a freshly minted college graduate reaching and then surpassing $100,000.
In the ETF industry, both the average salary and bonus rose last year, by 11% and 10%, respectively. Across the industry, the average bonus makes up 68% of the base salary, according to the survey.
Compensation wasn’t distributed equally. Women, on average, were paid 16% less than men, according to the survey.
“Disappointingly, despite the rhetoric from companies on equal pay, there is still a clear gap” between women and men, Michael O’Riordan, Blackwater’s founding partner, said in a statement.
Blackwater surveyed over 3,000 people across the world.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.