Recruiters Have Fourth Highest Average Annual Income.

Recruiters in the City take home the fourth highest average annual income, according to a new report.The Route City Wealth Club’s Top Wealth Generating Careers Report 2008 found that senior professionals and directors of recruitment agencies earn on average £477,500 a year. Only traders and finance and legal professionals earn a higher average annual income.

This report reveals that high earners in the top 10 most lucrative careers in the City take home an average of £534,400 per year with their bonus making up almost 50% of their annual income. On average, Traders (£1,449,000) earned the most from their occupation followed by those who worked in General Finance (£1,027,800) and in the Law (£572,800).

At the other end of the scale, those in the more creative entrepreneurial careers such as Media (£170,200) and Property Investment (£312,700) earned considerably less.

Performance related bonuses were a significant percentage of annual income for the top three highest paid careers with them accounting for 82% (Traders), 70% (General Finance) and 37% (Legal) respectively.

The report also revealed that the peak years for recruiters are between the ages of 41 and 45 years when their average earnings peak at £583,300, while the average earnings for a 20-year career in recruitment is £9,197,900.

Mark Worrall, Managing Director, The Route, comments: “Many of our members work in intensely pressurised careers that have a relatively short life span with only 20 ‘peak earning years’ and are very focused on performance related bonuses.So while they have the opportunity to earn more than half a million a year, this part of their working life generally doesn’t last very long. Most are facing “Retirement” at 45 – 50, thus it is vital that they manage the income from their hard work well.”