Since August 2007, the New York City financial industry has laid off 20,000 employees. With growing uncertainty in all sectors of the economy, the pace of job losses in the finance sector is increasing.
Citigroup is cutting 6,000 workers, Lehman Brothers will lay off 1,400 and Goldman Sachs is expected to fire 20 percent of its workforce, or 6,400 workers. Several of Bear Stearns’ 14,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs if the company is absorbed by J.P. Morgan Chase.
In 2007, the New York financial sector was responsible for one-third of all wages in the city. Each financial sector worker supports three workers in other sectors, which means a potential ripple effect in layoffs. (NY Times March 2008)
This trend shatters the illusion that high-paid workers are immune to the negative impacts of the ever-recurring capitalist crises of overproduction.
