20,000+ Wall Streeters to Wave Farewell by end of ‘09

The below story ran in Wednesday’s Financial News and that figure doesn’t include any losses from the Bear Stearns/JPM acquisition.

Gulp.

Wall Street may lose 20K jobs by end of 2009
Stephanie Baum
25 Mar 2008

Job losses in the financial sector in New York City are expected to reach 20,200 by the end of next year as the credit crunch deals its hardest blow to Wall Street, according to the Independent Budget Office of New York City.
The figures reflect an analysis of the mayor of New York’s preliminary 2009 budget and financial plan through 2012.
A spokesman for the budget office emphasized that the information in the analysis was subject to change.
The report provides estimates through 2009 based on information received by the end of February, before JP Morgan agreed to acquire Bear Stearns.
The spokesman said: “I hear repeatedly that every recession is different. This one is heavily based on finance and that’s going to hit New York City hard because New York is so dependent on the financial services sector... It remains to be seen how hard this will be.”
The agency predicts the financial activities sector will shed 12,600 jobs in 2008, a 2.7% decline from last year.
The estimate includes 5,300 jobs in the securities industry. Jobs tied to the credit market will account for the biggest percentage decline with 4,100 job cuts projected for 2008, a 4.4% decline over last year. It expects losses to slow down to 7,600 job in 2009.
Securities industry profits last year reached their lowest level since 1994 with $3.2bn (€2bn) according to the Independent Budget office estimates, a dramatic downturn from the near record $20.9bn in profits the sector produced in 2006.
The budget office expects losses to continue in the first quarter, but predicts an improvement in Wall Street’s performance later this year with “positive quarterly profits for the rest of 2008.” It predicts Wall Street companies will make a profit of $6.6bn and to nearly double next year to $12.2bn.
Investment banks and the mortgage industry have sustained much of the job losses since the onset of the credit crunch.
Another analysis of the city’s preliminary budget will be released in May.

For the independent research world, Wall Street job losses provide an interesting conundrum: will most firms cut back on spending so drastically that they confine spending to bare bones, in-house necessities and entirely scale back the use of outside products and services?

Or will they invest in fractional ownership or outsourcing-type solutions that can help them to contain costs without all together sacrificing valuable insights and information?

Bottom line: for any companies servicing the financial sector, proving value, providing an edge, and impacting the bottom line has never been more critical. And for the users of information, keeping in-house costs contained will prove equally vital....