The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced major layoffs yesterday, starting with 74 positions in its merchandising division – and warned that even more are to come.
Faced with an increasingly dismal financial climate, the museum said it would immediately cut 27 percent of its full-time and 9 percent of its part-time staff at the museum’s store. That’s on top of 53 positions that were cut in recent months when the museum shuttered eight satellite gift shops.
Those moves came following a “significant” fall-off in retail sales due to the cratering economy.
The museum also said that it would cut an additional 10 percent of its overall work force before July 1.
That follows a hiring freeze and the elimination of merit raises for the next year.