Wall St. bankers, unquestionably, have seen better days:

NYC financial firms expect to pay out about $18 billion less in pay and benefits this year versus 2007 (the largest one-year drop ever)



In total, US banks will cut 200,000 employees by 2009

But those numbers are misleading. All the work isn't necessarily going away. Much of it, both back and front office, is going to places like India (NYT):

Morgan Stanley has about 500 people employed in India doing research and statistical analysis. About 100 of Goldman Sachs’ 3,000 employees in Bangalore are working on investment research.

JPMorgan has 200 analysts in Mumbai working for its investment banking operations around the world, doing industry analysis, and compiling data and charts for marketing materials. It has an additional 125 analysts in Mumbai supporting the bank’s global research division.

Citigroup employs about 22,000 people in India, several hundred of whom work in investment research. Deutsche Bank has 6,000 employees in India...

How much of Wall St.'s work force could be shipped overseas for pennies on the dollar? According to Andrew Power, a financial services partner at Deloitte Consulting, as much as 40%, mostly from the investment bank and trading divisions.

Newly-minted MBAs on Wall St. always thought they were doing grunt work. Turns out they were, but at least they had work to do.

See Also:

Wall Street Bonuses To Plummet in 2008, New York Economy Doomed

Goldman (GS) Fires "Hundreds" of M&A Bankers