To Analysts, Government Jobs Hold Appeal

To laid-off financial analysts, the federal government is starting to look pretty appealing.

About 400 people - double the tally from similar events last year - have signed up for a job fair in New York later this month featuring recruiters from nine government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the FBI, reports Bloomberg News.

The jobs are attractive even though they pay less than private sector positions because of their stability, especially during a recession that has cost more than 23,000 people their jobs in New York's financial services sector. New York City estimates it will lose around 46,000 financial jobs by the second quarter of 2010, Bloomberg says.

"Government jobs are stable jobs," William Drawbridge, director of marketing and development at the New York Society of Security Analysts, told the news service. "This is a good out for them."

The SEC is actively looking for finance pros. Investors and members of Congress have pilloried the agency for failing to catch the Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, the largest in history. The government also needs staff to help administer the government bailouts of financial institutions.

Government employees in New York can earn between $76,000 and $153,000 and $59,000 to $127,000 in Washington, Bloomberg says. Expect competition to be fierce.

As Drawbridge says, unemployed Wall Streeters "are sick of the insecurity."