Here is a reddit link that collects a few quants (from nuclear phynance mostly) saying that the labour market, especially the junior labour market, is tight and not likely to expand any time soon:
If there's a SE, discussions on HN, thousands of MFE's being minted, and so many books on quant finance topics, you really have to wonder if the quant labour market isn't saturated.
If this is true (and I agree with you somewhat) what are the new MFE graduates from Asia and here in the USA doing with their expensive degrees if they can't find a job as quant?
I'm sure the idea that there are no jobs out there is exaggerated. A MFE graduate can still find a position somewhere in a bank doing something vaguely related to finance. But the days when anyone vaguely familiar with PDEs could waltz into a bank and quickly start earning $300K may be drawing to a close.
There will, however, always be lucrative jobs for those who are truly brilliant and willing to work on stuff which is kinda boring.
The NP posts don't say there are no jobs -- just that junior quant has 1000+ applicants per position.
Jane Street still jingles its bells up at MIT, but for those who are less than six stdev's IQ or don't live in NYC / London, I would say focus on petroengineering instead of quant finance. (Petroengineering is the highest paying college major.)
I saw a bunch of doggie positions at Fidelity for "lower" MFE holders. You can also check up on at least one: Joy Pathak wrote for QuantNet about his experiences doing the Baruch MFE. Jim Liew is running the Alpha Quant Club along with that pack ... those are just a couple people you can stalk.
But I suspect it's just like those who finish a law degree and then can't get a (good enough) job in law: not the university's problem, and they're ashamed they ended up in the bottom 50% of their class.
http://www.reddit.com/r/quantfinance/comments/jl5ea/there_ar...
If there's a SE, discussions on HN, thousands of MFE's being minted, and so many books on quant finance topics, you really have to wonder if the quant labour market isn't saturated.