Wall Street banks hit by mortgage losses and writedowns have cut more than 34,000 jobs in the past nine months, the most since the dot-com boom fizzled in 2001.
Citigroup Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Morgan Stanley are among the firms that have disclosed headcount reductions so far.
After the Internet bubble burst, 39,800 jobs were eliminated during the same period; the number climbed to 90,000 in the next two years, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Lehman's home-loan unit, BNC Mortgage LLC, employed 1,600 people before the firm closed it down in August. Mortgage lender First Franklin Financial had 2,300 employees when it was acquired by Merrill Lynch & Co. in January 2007. Merrill shuttered the business this month. All told, at least 100 mortgage companies have suspended operations, closed or been sold since the start of 2007.
It's been widely speculated that when the dust finally settles, Banks will end up losing $700 Billion dollars in this subprime mortgage fiasco. If that happens, wall street will lose over 100,000 jobs!
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