Reply #20: BofA Layoffs Are The Latest As An Industry Shrinks [View All]

[Demeter]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=139774347&ft=1&f=1001

The cuts confirmed Friday by Bank of America follow layoffs announced this summer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., State Street Corp. and other financial institutions.

And though banks also laid off thousands of workers in 2008 and 2009, analysts say it's different this time: Many of the banks are posting profits right now, so their layoffs indicate permanent structural changes rather than temporary cuts in response to a weak economy.

Steven Mann, chairman of the finance department at the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business, said he's hearing from MBA grads who have been job-searching for months and haven't found anything.

"From 2002 to 2007, pretty much everybody who could walk and talk could get a job," Mann said. "But those days are gone."

LUCKY FOR W HE'S RETIRED AND ELIGIBLE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY...