JPMorgan Hands $1,000 to Employees Who Earn Less Than $80,000

JPMorgan Chase has made annual payments like these each year for at least the past decade. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase is providing a payment of up to $1,000 to employees earning less than $80,000 annually.
• Eligible employees, vice president level or below, with at least one year of service, will receive the payment.
• The payment will be a 401(k) contribution for U.S. employees, or a cash payment for those outside the U.S.

JPMorgan Chase is giving a payment of up to $1,000 to employees whose annual pay is less than $80,000, many of whom will receive it in the form of a contribution to JPMorgan retirement plans, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a staff memo on Tuesday.

Employees qualify for the payment if they participate in the bank’s U.S. 401(k) plan, if they have worked there for at least one year, if their title is vice president or below, and if their total compensation is less than $80,000, according to a copy of the memo reviewed by Barron’s.

Employees outside the U.S. will get a cash payment instead of a 401(k) contribution, the memo said. If U.S.-based employees don’t participate in the savings plan, the bank will set up an account for them, it said.

Employees can expect these payments in late January 2026.

The New York bank has some 318,000 employees globally. A JPMorgan spokesman declined to specify how many were eligible for the award, how much the award will cost the bank, and how management determined a threshold of $80,000.

Dimon said in the company memo that the award is meant to “recognize employees for their outstanding dedication to serving our customers, communities and shareholders.”

JPMorgan’s stock is up 27% in the past year, outperforming the S&P 500’s 17% advance. The bank has made annual payments like these each year for at least the past decade. The salary threshold was $80,000 in 2024 as well.

Some employees’ complaints about the disconnect between their small raises and the firm’s consistent strong performance helped to spur a union-organizing effort earlier this year, Barron’s reported.

The overall cost of running JPMorgan, considered the industry leader as the largest U.S. bank by assets, was top of mind in the investor community this week.

On Tuesday, the stock fell by nearly 5% after top JPMorgan executive Marianne Lake, who runs the firm’s consumer bank, said at an industry conference that firmwide expenses would rise next year.

Those increases stem from investments in growth initiatives and, to a lesser degree, the pressure of inflation on areas such as real estate costs, Lake said. She expects firmwide expenses of $105 billion in 2026, higher than Wall Street analysts’ initial forecasts.

“We feel really great about the expenses, not just how we’re investing the money, but also in the context of the performance of the business,” said Lake, who is seen inside the bank as a potential successor to Dimon.

Write to Rebecca Ungarino at rebecca.ungarino@barrons.com