On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley revealed through a government filing that the layoffs it had announced earlier this month have gotten underway in New York, where the financial services firm is headquartered. The company plans to cut 580 jobs. This has not been a good year for Morgan Stanley and its Wall Street brethren, many of whom have also had to cut staff after a series of bleak returns. Overall, Morgan Stanley plans to lay off 1,600 workers, so the proportion getting the axe in its hometown represents a little more than a third of the cuts. Whatever the layoffs indicate about the health of the larger U.S. economy, they are starting to wreak havoc on the local one. Ben Protess explains the context in DealBook:

The layoffs at Morgan Stanley are the latest round of severe cutbacks on Wall Street, which has suffered a year of humbling returns and massive cost-cutting. Citigroup recently announced it would shed 4,500 jobs. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, too, have begun carrying out major staff reductions. In June, Goldman told the New York Department of Labor that it would layoff 230 New York workers through March 2012.

The job losses have taken a toll on New York, the center of the financial industry. The securities industry in New York City lost nearly $3 billion in the third quarter, according to a report released this month by the New York State comptroller. In October, the comptroller disclosed that an estimated 10,000 Wall Street workers could lose their jobs by the end of 2012.

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Adam Martin