Careers in Finance

Past research has documented a substantial finance wage premium. We examine whether this premium reflects differences in lifetime career opportunities. Using resume data, we reconstruct career trajectories in finance and non-finance sectors and build synthetic measures of career attractiveness that account for compensation levels, growth, and risk. We find that asset management and investment banking provide a sizable risk-adjusted career premium relative to banking, insurance, and other sectors. This premium has declined across cohorts, particularly relative to high tech. Labor-market entry patterns respond to these premia: potential entrants treat finance and high-tech careers as substitutes when choosing where to start.