With Wall Street facing a lower-return future, the battle is on between employees and shareholders. At stake: Who gets the bigger slice of a shrinking pie.

So far, shareholders look to be getting the short end of the stick. Although there is growing angst on Wall Street about pay and job cuts, overall compensation ratios haven't dropped hugely when compared with long-term averages. And they have fallen far less than returns on equity at firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.