According to the Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) log, 67 workers at MercyOne in Des Moines will be let go March 17. That's in addition to 40 jobs being cut as part of a MercyOne closing in Ottumwa at the end of February.
Veterans Affairs will remove about 25,000 open and unfilled positions, a spokesperson said, adding that they were 'COVID-era roles that are no longer necessary.' 'No VA employees are being removed, and this will have zero impact on Veteran care,' department spokesperson Pete Kasperowicz said. 'All of these positions are unfilled and most have not been filled for more than a year.'
With official data on hold due to the government shutdown, economists are turning to private reports, and the early signs, according to Moody's, aren't good. "This data shows that the job market is weak and getting weaker," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi wrote on social platform X.
The FTC on Thursday announced a public inquiry to gather information on the use of employee noncompete agreements. The FTC noted that while noncompete agreements can serve a valid purpose in some circumstances, they are often subject to abuse. The public will have 60 days to submit comments at Regulations.gov.
It's been six months since a now-infamous email presented millions of federal workers with a pivotal decision: They could reply 'resign' to give up their job and receive full pay and benefits through the end of September. Or they could stay in their positions and hope they didn't get laid off in the ensuing chaotic months of the second Trump administration. VA leaders said there was plenty of room for cuts without compromising care, but they insisted front-line health care providers such as doctors and nurses were too valuable to let go.