Layoffs Rain Down on Wall Street

Wall Street's typical boom-bust excess means that the current round of cuts sweeping the banks and financial companies is even rougher than in other industries, trashing morale and harming client relationships just when those financial institutions can least afford it, reports Reuters. So far this year, Wall Street has cut more than 18,000 jobs, 6% more than last year, and industry analysts say a lot more cuts are coming. HSBC alone plans to ax 25,000 workers by the end of 2012.

"They finished cutting the fat and now they're into the muscle and bone," grumbled one financial industry recruiter. Many argue that the boom-bust cycle is too wrenching. "When people are getting hired, fired, hired, fired, every two years, it's very difficult to run a business," said a finance professor. (More financial institutions stories.)