We've noted that hiring seems to be picking up on Wall Street, generally and in specific areas like information technology. In New York, 6,800 financial-industry positions were added from the end of February through May, the largest three-month increase since 2008, notes Bloomberg. All that talk of a jobless recovery on Wall Street seems to have faded.

The New York Times reports that Goldman Sachs (GS) added 600 jobs worldwide in the first quarter, which pales next to JPMorgan's investment bank, which hired more than 2,000 people since the beginning of the year. Credit Suisse's investment bank hired 600 positions in the first quarter, and Deutsche Bank added 414 people. Nomura has been "especially aggressive," increasing its staff to more than 1,700, from 1,000 in March 2009. More hires are in the works. We're seeing a lot of hiring at boutiques and smaller banks as well. eFinancialCareers says it has seen a 75 percent jump in investment banking jobs posted on its site compared with a year ago.

This is certainly a good time to be pondering your options, as the payouts are about as generous as they can be in this environment. If you've done well through the crisis, you're likely to be in good position. If you've been out of the game, this may be a great opportunity to jump back in.

There is reason to temper any optimism. One longtime observer notes the that banking industry's hiring boom may be a short-term phenomena. "Wall Street typically experiences a pickup in hiring during the spring and early summer. Most bankers will not join a new firm until late January or February." After they get their annual bonus paycheck. "The banks, meanwhile, are hesitant to hire in the fall to avoid guaranteeing big year-end bonus payouts along with a forced vacation, known as garden leave."

In addition, the profit picture for the second half of the year remains a bit clouded. And it's too early to say that all of the regulatory uncertainty has been cleared up. So just as talk of a double-dip recession has crept into the national conversation, there's an outside chance that the financial industry will struggle a bit over the next year. A bear market certainly would not help matters. What we're seeing now may simply being a burst of activity to release pent-up demand for new workers. - Jim