Wall Street will cut as much as 15% of its jobs over the next 18 months, according to analyst Meredith Whitney. That amounts to as many as 100,000 lay-offs. According to Whitney: “We are on the precipice of a seismic downsizing on Wall Street, the likes of which have never occurred before”.
This isn’t the first time Whitney has made a dire prediction about the financial sector – she made her name with an accurate call on the health of banks ahead of the financial crisis. But this call isn’t exactly a revelation – a number of banks have announced layoffs over the past several months.
Back in February, J.P. Morgan announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs. Last September, Bank of America announced 16,000 layoffs. Citigroup announced plans for 11,000 layoffs in December. And in May HSBC announced 14,000 job cuts.
Those announcements weren’t any surprise. Wall Street’s workforce hasn’t bounced back from the financial crisis: according to the New York State Comptroller, the financial sector lost 28,300 jobs during the recession, and has only added 8,500 jobs back.