NEW YORK – Wall Street traders discouraged by declining bonuses this month can take solace: They still earn much more than brain surgeons and top U.S. generals.

An oil trader with 10 years in the business is likely to earn at least $1 million this year, while a neurosurgeon with similar time on the job makes less than $600,000, recruiters estimated. After a decade of deal-making, merger bankers take home about $2 million, more than 10 times what a similarly seasoned cancer researcher gets.

Despite the 2008 financial crisis, there’s little sign the gap with Main Street is narrowing.

“I don’t think it’s healthy for the economy to be this skewed,” said Stephen Rose, a 63-year-old professor at Georgetown University. “I believe there’s some sort of connection between value added to the economy and pay. Everyone is losing sight of any fundamentals.”

Today, JPMorgan Chase will lead the largest U.S. banks in reporting full-year earnings, disclosing costs to reward employees. In the first nine months of 2010, the New York-based bank allocated $21.55 billion for compensation and benefits, down 1 percent from the same period a year earlier even though the number of employees rose 7 percent.

In the first three quarters of 2010, eight of Wall Street’s largest banks set aside about $130 billion for compensation and benefits, enough to pay each worker more than $121,000 for nine months of work. That’s up from the same period four years earlier — before the crisis — when the lenders set aside a total of $113 billion, or enough to pay an average $114,400 to each worker.

“The bottom line is all the people in investment banking understand that they work harder and are under more stress,” said Jeanne Branthover, managing director at a Wall Street recruitment firm. “Many don’t think they’re paid enough.”