Wall Street: Under Siege and Contracting

 

The securities industry in New York City has lost 22,000 jobs since January 2008, and will lose another 10,000 by the end of next year, according to a report by New York City’s Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. If his predictions are correct, Wall Street will have lost 17% of its jobs. Wall Street has shed 4,100 jobs since April. Bonuses and other compensation are declining as well. (See “Wall Street Shrinkage,” by Andrew Grossman, Wall Street Journal).

As has been reported, Bank of America plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs; Goldman Sachs may cut 1,000 or more, and Credit Suisse AG and Barclays PLC have announced job cuts.

The contraction of the securities industry could have a significant impact on the overall economic and employment picture in New York. One eighth of all New York City jobs and one-thirteenth of New York state jobs rely on securities firms, according to Mr. DiNapoli. The trickle-down effects will be painful for the world’s financial capital as tax revenues and the budget will have to shrink.

The number of employees in finance and insurance has fallen 8.1% nationwide in the past 5 years.

Wall Street and other financial centers are also under attack as street protests by groups such as Occupy Wall Street grow and obtain backing from organized labor. So far the movement shows no sign of waning and are, in fact, picking up steam in demonstrations such as Occupy Atlanta. It will be interesting to see how mayors like Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and rank and file police officers react to citizens who are exercising their civil rights in a free country.

Page Perry is an Atlanta-based law firm with over 150 years collective experience representing investors in securities-related litigation and arbitration. While past results are not indicative of future success, Page Perry’s attorneys have recovered over $1,000,000 for clients on more than 45 occasions. For further information, please contact us.