Employment: Financial industry lay-offs rising

Over 50,000 jobs on the block; Move to fixed compensation added pressure

Lay-offs in the banking industry are back. Over the summer, banks worldwide announced tens of thousands of planned headcount cuts. “The fact that headcount has so far continued growing into 2011 suggests that firms had until now believed that weaker industry conditions would only be temporary. That view has now changed, and firms have very rapidly switched into cutting mode,” say Barclays analysts Jeremy Sigee and Kiri Vijayarajah in their August banking note.

Bank of America announced that it would cut 3,500 jobs by the end of this month, while some sources suggest the total amount over the next year could be closer to 10,000.

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