Afew weeks ago, some science a question. “Lots of London University lobbed me engineering students at people on our course used to go to work for banks, but now that seems a really bad idea . . . so where do you think the job opportunities will be in the future for graduates like us?”
Where indeed? It is a question of great import right now – not just for current students but for policymakers across the western world. Until three years ago, smart, numerate students took it for granted that one of the fastest ways to become rich and successful was to dive into the world of complex finance, producing structures such as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).
Now, however, those CDO dreams have crumbled. By late last year, large western banks had shed more than 125,000 jobs. Thousands more have gone since then, many in high finance. The betting in the management consultancy industry (which is cutting back too) is that some 300,000 global jobs linked to banking could vanish before the crisis ends.