Expect fat bonuses despite shallower pool

Even during the tough economic slog of 2010, Wall Street bonuses could be growing.

That’s the forecast from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who said yesterday that despite an expected 70 percent drop in total Wall Street profits this year, year-end bonus checks could get fatter.

“The average cash bonus may be larger because the pool will be shared with fewer workers,” DiNapoli said of bonuses to be announced in January and February.

Overall, DiNapoli sees Street profits falling to about $19 billion this year from a record $61.4 billion last year — a total stoked by the massive taxpayer bailouts.

“The economic benefits of Wall Street ripple” through a local economy in which one of every seven jobs exists solely due to links to the securities industry, he said. Such dependence has its bad side, too: Of the 169,800 private-sector jobs lost between August 2008 and December 2009, a stunning 44 percent of them were tied to Wall Street, the report said.

What’s more, Wall Street firms will pay $10.7 billion in combined city and state taxes in 2010. Last year, they ponied up $17.1 billion.

While hiring has improved somewhat, the report said, “The industry has continued to downsize as it adapts to changes in its economic and regulatory environment.”

Last year, paychecks shrank 20.5 percent to an average $311,300, which is still about five times bigger than average private-sector pay in the city.

The record 2009 profits “are not likely to be repeated anytime soon,” DiNapoli said, while the $19 billion estimated results would be the fourth-best year due to robust merger activity and large trading volumes.