Where Wall Street Interns are Making the most Money

             The is a lot of money on Wallstreet. 

Wall Street is an eight-block stretch of New York City's Financial District in Lower Manhattan. It stretches from Broadway in the west to South Street in the east, and the East River in the middle. The name "Wall Street" has evolved to represent the whole US financial markets, the American financial services industry, New York-based financial interests, or the Financial District itself.

The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, are both located on Wall Street. The New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, the New York Futures Exchange (NYFE), and the defunct American Stock Exchange are among the other prominent exchanges with headquarters in the Wall Street region. [1] Many brokerage firms had offices "clustered around Wall Street" to assist the exchanges.

Silicon Valley: For years, Wall Street was the place to be for eager fresh graduates looking to make a name for themselves. Then, as a result of the financial industry's role in the mortgage crisis, new recruits began flocking to buzzy Silicon Valley firms.

In recent years, according to Glassdoor economist Lauren Thomas, the tech industry has established its position as a top destination for new talent. Only about half of the organizations on Glassdoor's highest-paying internship list were in the tech industry two years ago. Silicon Valley firms now account for 68 percent of the total.

"This demonstrates how strongly the IT and finance industries compete for talent, and that in today's job market, competition for great talent is only increasing," Ms. Thomas said.

However, the tides may be turning as financial industries pay top employees up to eight figures, while huge tech companies lose some of their lusters as their stock values plummet. According to Glassdoor data, the number of internships paying more than $US8000 per month climbed by 33% in finance and 22% in IT last year.

During the most recent internship recruiting season, clever college students showed signals that they may be returning to Wall Street.

Even interns' pay is increasing as big corporations spend millions in the race for Wall Street's finest and brightest.

According to finance recruitment site Wall Street Oasis, top global investment banks increased intern compensation by 37.2 percent from a year ago for the current internship season, and other significant banks are paying 36.9% more.

This has been an especially difficult year for Wall Street recruiters. While many businesses are struggling to find workers in a tight labor market, the financial industry has seen high employee turnover and dissatisfaction among junior bankers, who are infamous for working 100-hour workweeks.

Traditional banking is now competing with hip tech companies that provide more informal and flexible work environments, as well as more lucrative financial corporations like private equity firms. The banking industry is increasing intern pay to help strengthen its entry-level pipeline as the talent war heats up.

The surge in salary for prospective junior bankers over the last year, according to Wall Street Oasis founder Patrick Curtis, was the greatest he has seen since the company launched in 2006. It's not only the banks: interns at high-frequency trading firm Jane Street earn an average of $US16,356 ($22,125) per month or roughly $US200,000 per year. A request for comment from Jane Street was not returned.

"These are historic numbers for intern salary," Curtis said, "particularly what we're seeing in 2022."

In the 12 months leading up to March, average hourly earnings in the United States increased by 5.6 percent. However, it is positively soaring in other areas.

Technology, finance, management consulting, and law are among the highest-paying areas for entry-level jobs. In those industries, top college graduates can earn more than $100,000 per year as soon as they graduate.

To be fair, some of the fortunate few who land those jobs may be turned off by the hard hours and potentially unsatisfying work once they arrive. In any case, wage growth is resulting in significantly better pay for those at the top of the totem pole than for those at the bottom.

"What we're witnessing is certainly increased inequality, and the difference is widening," Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor, told the BBC. "By the age of 25, you may be earning $250,000 if you had a computer science degree, whereas if you left school at 16, you might be making $25,000."

So, who is making the most?

Veteran employees aren't the only ones getting raises.

According to financial recruitment site Wall Street Oasis, as cited by Bloomberg, top global investment firms increased intern compensation by a whopping 37.2 percent for the current internship season compared to a year ago.

Jane Street, a private trading firm, pays interns $16,356 per month. This equates to more than $196,000 each year.

According to Bloomberg, Wall Street Oasis CEO Patrick Curtis said that compensation increases for new bankers at large institutions have been the greatest he has seen since establishing his company in 2006.

According to Wall Street Oasis, hedge funds, high-frequency and proprietary trading firms topped the list for intern salaries, followed by investment banks, with the top eight offering a median wage of more than $US10,000 per month. During the northern hemisphere summer, a typical financial internship lasts 10 to 12 weeks, while some firms offer longer training programs.

According to a Citadel spokeswoman, the median monthly income for the 0.8 percent of applicants who get an internship at the top hedge fund is $US14,000 or more, depending on the function - usually a software engineer, trader, or quantitative researcher. For its 10-month investment analyst training program for prospective graduates, Point72 Asset Management confirmed that the $US10,750 monthly salary was correct. Credit Suisse said that the amounts presented were incorrect because an intern's remuneration is determined by a number of factors. It would not, however, reveal its salary range. The remaining companies on the list either declined to comment or did not reply to Bloomberg's requests.

Mr. Curtis of Wall Street Oasis noted that salary is usually determined by the technicality of the job. Internships in quantitative trading and engineering typically paid the most. Software engineering and investment banking analyst internships, according to Glassdoor, have the highest median income at the organizations it surveys. Intern salary may also be influenced by the intern's location. Positions in high-cost-of-living cities, such as New York or San Francisco, frequently pay more.

Below is the average pay of interns making the most money on Wall Street:

Jane Street                                                                                $16,356

Citadel                                                                                     $13,933

Bridgewater Associates                                                            $11,750

Akuna Capital                                                                          $11,458

Cowen and Company                                                               $10,775

Point72 Asset Management                                                      $10,750

D.E. Shaw                                                                                $10,417

Quantlab                                                                                  $10,250

Susquehanna International Group                                             $9,951

Credit Suisse                                                                            $9,450

Increases in the Minimum Wage

Wages for entry-level workers in lower-paid industries are also increasing, though at a considerably lower rate.

Target said in February that certain new employees will earn up to $24 per hour this year. According to the consumer website Cheapism, regular starting pay at Target in February was $15 an hour.

In January, Hobby Lobby increased its minimum wage from $17 to $18.50. Ikea raised its minimum wage in the United States to $16 at the start of the year. Last year, Macy's announced that it would increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour by May 2022.