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Careers in Finance

Author

Listed:
  • Ellul, Andrew
  • Pagano, Marco
  • Scognamiglio, Annalisa

Abstract

Employees in finance are known to earn higher wages and returns to talent than non-finance workers since the 1990s, suggesting that finance may have attracted talent at the expense of other industries. However, the allocation of talent is likely to respond to differences in career paths across industries, not in wages at a given date. We analyze the careers of 9,964 individuals from 1980 to 2017 based on their resumes, and find that they tend to remain in the same industry for most of their working lives, consistently with them choosing occupations based on comparisons of entire career paths. Comparing various aspects of careers - levels, slopes, PDV and risk of pay profiles - we document that finance as a whole offers a career premium compared to manufacturing and high tech, through higher and steeper pay pro files. This however masks significant diversity within finance: while asset managers enjoy a large career premium and no commensurate career risks, the opposite applies to banking and insurance employees. Furthermore, relative to manufacturing, the asset management career premium has risen for cohorts entering soon before and during the financial crisis, even after controlling for career risk, while the high-tech career premium has become commensurately large for the latest cohorts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellul, Andrew & Pagano, Marco & Scognamiglio, Annalisa, 2020. "Careers in Finance," CEPR Discussion Papers 14767, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14767
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Matthias Breuer & Christian Leuz & Steven Vanhaverbeke, 2019. "Reporting Regulation and Corporate Innovation," NBER Working Papers 26291, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Gill, Andrej & Heinz, Matthias & Schumacher, Heiner & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Trustworthiness in the Financial Industry," IZA Discussion Papers 13583, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Andrej Gill & Matthias Heinz & Heiner Schumacher & Matthias Sutter, 2020. "Trustworthiness in the financial industry," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 022, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    asset managers; careers; Hedge Funds; market discipline; scarring effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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