Its a Jungle Out There

According to the New York Lawyer (free subscription required)

The number of legal jobs is steadily declining, according to new employment figures from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The law sector saw jobs shrink by 2,000 in September — the fifth consecutive month of losses.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal workforce of 1,165,100 is down by 1.15 percent from one year ago, when the industry employed 1,178,600 people.

The drop-off is even steeper since May 2007, when legal employment peaked at 1,180,700.

Of course, all of this was prior to the passage of the “bailout” plan which, all by itself, may solve any transient lawyer employment problem for quite a while.  I assume from the wording that the 1,178,600 figure includes a lot of non-lawyer support staff.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see the number of secretaries dropping, although I’ll bet that Vista, alone, required substantial increases in computer support personnel.