With a strong first quarter wind to its sail, JPMorgan Chase added to both its workforce and to amount of compensation it plans to pay.  Almost 3,100 workers were hired in the first 3 months of 2011, including 180 investment bankers.  The bank's headcount now stands at nearly 243,000 worldwide.  At the same time, it set aside $8.3 billion in compensation - or 14% more than it put aside for pay one year ago, in Q1 of 2010.

"In every way we can, we continue to support the economic recovery in the U.S. and around the world."  -- CEO Jamie Dimon.

The hiring was across all divisions except the bank's treasury and securities services unit, where headcount dropped by 1,033, or 4%.  JPMorgan added almost 900 workers in its corporate and private equity department, 285 in asset management and 2,709 in card services and retail financial services.   [WSJournal, 4/13]