15,900 Lost Securities Jobs, Study Finds

NEW YORK — The nation’s securities industry fired a net 15,900 employees between last October’s stock market crash and the end of the first quarter, according to a study published Tuesday.

The joint study was made by the Securities Industry Assn. and the accounting firm Arthur Andersen & Co.

It said about 262,200 employees were employed in the securities industry as of Sept. 30, 1987, the last benchmark before the Oct. 19 crash.

That number dropped to 260,500 employees as of Dec. 31, 1987, and to 246,300 by March 31 of this year.

Nearly all the dismissals occurred at major brokerage firms and big investment banks, SIA officials said.

The 15,900 employees fired between the crash and the end of the first quarter included about 6,900 stockbrokers and 9,000 support staff, the study said.

“Although the layoffs were painful in human terms, they were a necessary part of the industry’s across-the-board efforts to lower expenses which were rising out of control, causing diminishing profit margins and lower returns on investment,” SIA President Edward I. O’Brien said in a statement.

Before the market plunge, the study reported, the brokerage industry had been hiring employees.

The industry added about 2,200 employees between Jan. 1, 1987, and March 31 of this year, nearly all of them before the October crash.