200,000 US Banking Jobs at Risk

Keep an eye on the Gvt's unemployment figures as we're certain to see an uptick shortly.

The article below only discusses the banking sector, but think about all the construction, home improvement, auto manufacturing/sales, retail, state (due to diminishing revenue), etc jobs that will be shed simultaneously. Scary indeed.


200,000 US Banking Jobs at Risk

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. financial industry has been shedding jobs at a record clip, and some analysts predict the pace will only accelerate over the next year-and-a-half as banks cut costs in the face of the housing market slump and the weak economy.

Analysts at the financial research firm Celent LLC said in a report Tuesday that it expects the U.S. commercial banking industry — essentially, all companies that lend or collect deposits — to lose 200,000 of its 2 million jobs over the next 12 to 18 months.

An annual loss of 200,000 jobs at the nation's commercial banks would be an unprecedented number.

...more layoffs are inevitable as the subprime crisis hits other parts of the banking industry and spreads beyond mortgages to mortgage-related products, such as home-equity loans, and other types of lending, such as credit cards.

"The banking industry over the past 40 years has never seen a downturn in its revenue growth," Marenzi said. "In 2008, it looks like it will decrease for the first time in living memory. They're going to have to respond with severe cost cutting. It's not an environment they're entirely used to."