Wall Street banks feeling the pinch of a troubled financial market have begun laying off workers, but unlike the mass firings that followed the economic upheavals of 1987 and 1998, these layoffs come in smaller numbers with much less fanfare. But while this policy may preserve the banks' public image, it has begun to undermine the morale of their employees.
See "For Wall Street Workers, Ax Falls Quietly", Louise Story and Eric Dash, The New York Times, May 15, 2008