Wall Street's hiring binge: Happy days again?

Financial firms that helped cause the economic meltdown have started aggressively recruiting and hiring. Is that good news?

Is Wall Street's hiring binge a sign of better tiimes ahead?
(Image credit: Corbis)

Though the economy remains sluggish, one specific sector is definitely hiring: Wall Street. New York financial firms have added some 2,000 jobs since February, and hiring at banks and securities firms nationwide is also picking up steam, according to The New York Times. "Wall Street typically hires in anticipation of the recovery, and there is a sense that the economy has bottomed out," says New York Federal Reserve economist Rae Rosen. Should we be happy about a recovery in a sector that played a big part in triggering the unemployment crash? (Watch The Young Turks discuss Wall Street's hiring frenzy)

The wrong people are getting jobs: While the jokers whose "greed" caused this mess are now apparently "quietly smiling" at their good fortune, says Theresa Cahill at WorldNewsVine, everyone else "may be shocked and affronted" that "the creators of the crisis are benefiting," thanks to the generosity of taxpayers. Meanwhile, the Senate won't even extend jobless benefits to the victims of the crash.

"Wall Street prospering while millions remain jobless"

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It's unfair, but welcome: "So life’s not fair, we knew that," says Claudia Deutsch in True/Slant. And Wall Street's good fortune seems particularly egregious. "But I can't pretend that I’m not heartened by the news anyway." As a New Yorker, I'll be happy to see a return of the tax revenue and expense-account dining tabs that the city "has long depended on" for its prosperity.

"Wall Street's recovery — I begrudge them, but I'm glad"

Don't uncork the bubbly yet: Wall Street job numbers are still down to about 1993 levels, says Aaron Eistein in Crain's Business, and the financial regulatory bill that the Senate is close to passing will "throw a wrench into their money-making machine," making it much "tougher for the Street to stage one of its patented rebounds." If you want to cash in on a job boom, study up to join the ranks of the "accountants and compliance staffers."

"Get ready, New York, for smaller Wall Street"

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