Working on Wall Street used to be the biggest dream job in the world. The movie “Wall Street,” unexpectedly to its producer, glorified the creed of “greed is good,” and following the money paid off for a generation. But something changed during and after the Great Recession. Now Wall Street is targeted for success and targeted for greed. So what happens when Wall Street is less and less profitable?

A new report from the State Comptroller’s Office of New York showed that both bonuses and profits on Wall Street declined in 2015. Wages supposedly were increasing around the nation in late 2015 and 2016. That should make it stand out that Wall Street profits and bonuses are down so much.

The comptroller report indicates that the average bonus paid in New York City’s security industry was down a sharp 9% in 2015, to $146,200. The industrywide profits were down even worse, at -10.5%.

It turns out that pretax broker/dealer operations profits for New York Stock Exchange member firms were down by nearly $1.7 billion to $14.3 billion in 2015. Things started out fine in 2015, but a small loss of $177 million in the fourth quarter seems to be pointed out — a period in which markets were recovering but unable to reach new highs. That was said to be the first quarterly loss industrywide since 2011.

24/7 Wall St. decided to look closer at the profit picture versus what the comptroller report covered. This effort looks at the total revenue picture and the operating income of the top brokerage firms at the end of this report. That includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) for the top bulge-bracket brokerage firms, and we looked at Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) for their massive efforts in non-banking financial services on Wall Street.

What is amazing about the profits being down so much is that expenses were also lower in 2015. This profit decline was due to weak revenues, and the major blame there was from lower trading gains and weaker underwriting efforts.

Now consider this about targeting Wall Street’s endless money. The comptroller report suggests that industry profits declined for the third consecutive year, and this was the lowest reported level since 2011.

On top of lower profits and lower bonuses, the total employment in the securities industry in New York City grew by 2.7% in 2015. This was an increase of 4,500 jobs to an average of 172,400 jobs for the year. The securities industry in New York added 2,400 jobs in 2014, so this was the first two-year run of positive jobs growth in New York City since the financial crisis. Still, the industry is now said to be some 8% smaller than before the financial crisis.

Here is the real question to consider. The year 2016 seems to have stabilized after a very rough six-week start, but the market is still technically down for the year and the underwriting efforts have been very weak. So, what happens to bonuses and pay if things stay choppy in 2016? There is also the notion to consider that this is a presidential election year.

Before just thinking about the comptroller report, it is important to realize that the market and economy are at a crossroads in the first quarter of 2016. Global economic GDP growth forecasts keep ratcheting lower. International trade remains challenging due to the dollar strength and weak demand. Banks are increasing their loan loss reserves tied to oil and gas, and many financial firms are still aiming to cut costs in an effort to boost profits when the broader economic picture is for very muted growth at a time when the Federal Reserve wants to still raise U.S. interest rates.

Goldman Sachs saw revenues and operating income fall in 2015, to $33.82 billion in revenue and $8.778 billion in operating income. That was versus $34.528 billion in revenue and operating income of $12.357 billion in 2014. The 2013 figures were $34.206 billion in revenue and $11.737 billion in operating income.

Morgan Stanley had a bump in revenues in 2015 and operating income, to $35.155 billion and $8.495 billion, respectively. That was up from $34.275 billion in revenue and operating income was $3.591 billion in 2014, In 2013, it was $32.493 billion in revenue on operating income of $4.558 billion.

JPMorgan remains in decline as far as revenue, but not so in operating income. Revenue was $89.716 billion in 2015, down from $91.973 billion in 2014 and $97.142 billion in 2013. The 2015 operating income was $30.702 billion, versus $30.699 billion in 2014 and $26.675 billion in 2013.

Citigroup has been more mixed. Citi posted revenue of $68.024 billion and $24.144 billion in operating income in 2015. That compared to revenues of $69.606 billion in 2014 and $67.997 billion in 2013. Operating income was $14.131 billion in 2014 and $19.054 billion in 2013.

The New York State Comptroller report even warns that the 2016 early trend could lead to fewer employees in New York City. The report also warns that the trend could be heading toward lower bonuses next year. Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York Comptroller, said:

Wall Street bonuses and profits fell in 2015, reflecting a challenging year in the financial markets. While the cost of legal settlements appears to be easing, ongoing weaknesses in the global economy and market volatility may dampen profits in 2016. Both the state and city budgets depend heavily on the securities industry and lower profits could mean fewer industry jobs and less tax revenue.

Here are some statistics taken directly from the comptroller report:

• The 2015 bonus pool for securities industry employees who work in New York City declined by 6 percent to $25 billion during the traditional December-March bonus season.
• The average bonus declined by 9 percent in New York City to $146,200 in 2015.
• The decline in the average bonus was larger than the decline in the total bonus pool because the pool was shared among a larger number of employees than last year.
• Despite the decline, the average bonus in 2015 was slightly larger than the average of the seven prior years if adjusted for inflation.
• Noncompensation expenses (excluding rent, communication costs and other major operational expenses) declined by 6 percent in 2015, the first decline in five years.
• The average salary (including bonuses) for securities industry employees in New York City rose 14 percent in 2014 to $404,800, setting a new record (data are not yet available for 2015). This was nearly six times higher than salaries in the rest of the City’s private sector ($72,300).
• Although the securities industry is smaller, it is still one of New York City’s most powerful economic engines at 22% of all private sector wages paid in New York City in 2014 even though it accounted for less than 5% of the City’s private sector jobs. An estimated 1 in 9 jobs in New York City are either directly or indirectly associated with the securities industry.
• The securities industry has uncharacteristically not been a driving force in the current jobs recovery in New York City, accounting for less than 1% of the private sector jobs added (versus 10% during the two prior recoveries.
• Securities-related activities accounted for 7.5 percent ($3.8 billion) of all city tax revenue in city fiscal year 2015 and 17.5 percent ($12.5 billion) of state tax collections in State Fiscal Year 2014-15.
• The state also expects to receive more than $8.5 billion in settlement payments from financial firms from 2014 to 2015 and from 2015 to 2016.
• The state recently lowered its forecast of the statewide bonus pool for the broader finance and insurance sector and now assumes a decline of 2.5 percent.

More data and statistics for New York state and New York City, and the impact that the financial sector has on the economy there, can be found in the full Comptroller bonus report.

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