Goldman to lay off 230 employees in New York

NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs Group Inc plans to lay off 230 employees in New York because of economic conditions, according to a state filing on Wednesday.

The layoffs will take place during the fourth quarter of 2011 and first quarter of 2012, the filing said.

Companies based in New York that have at least 50 employees are required to notify the state Department of Labor if they plan to reduce the local workforce by a significant number. They must file "WARN notices" 90 days ahead of the planned reductions.

Goldman and other large Wall Street banks have started reducing their workforces to cut costs amid the slowdown in economic and market activity. Several large Wall Street banks have begun laying off employees due to weak trading volumes and regulations that limit their ability to engage in certain activities, such as proprietary trading.

Goldman's New York layoffs represent less than 1 percent of its 35,700 employees as of Dec. 31. Goldman is still hiring employees in growth markets like China, India and Brazil, President Gary Cohn said at a conference earlier this month.

Copyright Reuters, 2011