Over the last year, investors wrestled with a volatile market, looming regulatory changes and a growing suite of complicated financial products. Yet, even as many sought out professional help, the number of advisors was dwindling.

There were 369,928 retail financial advisors at the end of the first quarter of 2010, down from 434,479 the same period last year, a decline of about 15%, according to the Financial Research Corporation, an industry research firm based in Boston. (The FRC compiled its data on advisors from two independent research firms.)

To be sure, the drop came during a weak labor market in which workers across a variety of fields lost their jobs, but the loss of advisors far outpaced the broader decline in national payrolls during the same period (-1.7%).

Advisors now face a very different landscape than this time last year, and even more so than in 2008, says Bridget Bearden, research analyst for FRC.

Between 2007 and 2009 brokerages were recruiting heavily in accordance with strategies put in place long before the market fell into recession, Bearden says. From 2007 to 2009, their ranks grew by 4%.

However, that trend reversed as the economy put new pressure on some smaller firms and triggered a wave of industry consolidation.

The greatest declines in advisors came at banks, insurers and wirehouses, according to FRC. Bearden says those areas should tally more declines this year.

Consolidation at large firms, such as Wachovia and AG Edwards, created a tougher environment for many advisors, says Fred Dickson, chief strategist for Davidson Companies. Some faced significantly increased production standards as a result of mergers. Throughout the industry, management raised standards to determine who would stay, he says.

Although investors now have a smaller field of advisors from which to choose, the quality of the advice has not necessarily declined. Bearden says more companies are recruiting experienced advisors, often poaching them from other firms, rather than bringing in college graduates who require training. So investors may be sharing an advisor with more clients, but that advisor is likely to have more experience, she says.

Dickson says the paring of advisors doesn t necessarily mean larger client loads or more households per advisor because many firms are now targeting clients with a higher net worth.

Advisors did not see the same pressure outside large financial institutions. The number of regional advisors, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and fee-only planners each climbed last year, according to the FRC.

The Financial Planning Association says it hasn t seen a substantial decline in the number of financial planners and that planners have seen an increase in their client base since 2008.

Correction: The FPA does not use fees in distinguishing between financial planners and advisors. A previous version of this article said the FPA differentiates between those jobs based in part on the type of fees received.