Goldman employees on track to out earn JPMorgan's

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase's (JPM.N) investment banking employees made a lot of money in the third quarter, but they are still a country mile behind Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N).

As of the third quarter, JPMorgan had set aside about $8.8 billion to compensate employees in its investment banking unit so far this year, or about $353,834 per employee.

But Goldman Sachs in the first two quarters of this year had set aside $11.36 billion for the year, or $386,429 per employee. In other words, Goldman employees made more in two quarters than JPMorgan's have in three quarters.

Compensation figures are always a matter of intense interest on Wall Street, but after the financial sector lost hundreds of billions of dollars and required $750 billion of U.S. bailout money, politicians and the broader public have grown increasingly focused on Wall Street pay.

Of particular interest is whether employees are being overpaid. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in July that compensation at many major banks has no reasonable basis.

The Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Panel said on Wednesday that Congress is looking at compensation at companies that received significant taxpayer funds, and the White House warned pay must be reasonable. Special Master Kenneth Feinberg is looking at Wall Street compensation practices and calling for some contracts to be renegotiated.

Global leaders are trying to fix the problem. World leaders at the G20 meeting last month said bank compensation must be reformed and proposed measures, including banning guaranteed bonuses.

Even some bank heads agree change is necessary. Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said at a recent conference in Frankfurt there was good reason for anger over bankers' compensation.

But most calls for reform have fallen short of calling for outright pay caps.

Goldman's employees are in line to earn more than JPMorgan in large part because they have generated more revenue -- Goldman's per employee revenue for the first two quarters exceeded JPMorgan's.

To be sure, the numbers are not be completely comparable. Some businesses that generate revenue for Goldman Sachs, such as private equity investments, are not included in JPMorgan's investment bank segment results.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins; editing by Andre Grenon)