Securities employment sinks again in December

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. securities industry shed more jobs in December, with total employment falling for a fourth straight month to its lowest since May 2007 and approaching levels not seen since 2006, U.S. government data showed on Friday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its December jobs report, said the number of people employed in dealing securities, commodities and investments in the United States fell to 842,600 people at the end of last month, from 844,300.

The latest figure represents a 3.1 percent decline from the industry's record high of 870,000 U.S. jobs last June, according to data collected by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

The BLS in the December report also said U.S. joblessness in all manner of financial activities surged to 540,000 in December from 315,000 a year earlier.

Wall Street has been slashing payrolls over the past year as a global credit crunch blocked deals, stopped most underwriting and forced capital-strapped companies to rein in trading. Plunging markets have also forced banks to absorb hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.

Institutions from Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley to the smallest brokerage are contending with lower revenue and bleak prospects for 2009 earnings.

The December figures mean securities industry employment, which continues to fall, will soon shrink to 2006 levels, when 835,000 worked for banks and brokers in the United States.

(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)