LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- RAND Corp. has reduced more than 11 percent of its global workforce, with about one-third of the downsizing to take effect on Nov. 2 at the think tank's headquarters, said local media on Thursday.
The 192 layoffs were first mentioned publicly by RAND on the career networking website LinkedIn and later confirmed by RAND's spokesman Jeremy Rawitch, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. RAND did not provide a reason for the move or specify how many jobs were cut at each global location.
According to the report, in an Oct. 21 letter filed with California's Employment Development Department, RAND Human Resources Director Nick Bacon said the nonprofit organization was laying off 72 employees at its headquarters due to "lack of work."
The notice filed by Bacon indicated that positions being eliminated include accountants, scientists, policy analysts, economists, engineers and political scientists, the report added.
Rawitch said in a statement to the Los Angeles Daily News that the layoffs were a "difficult but necessary decision," while RAND's LinkedIn post said the "shift aligns our resources with changes in the broader research environment."
Citing RAND's 2023 tax documents obtained from Guidestar, an online database that tracks nonprofit organizations, the report said that RAND employed 2,396 people, up 8.3 percent from the 2,211 employees in 2021.
RAND, headquartered in U.S. Santa Monica with additional offices internationally, has a long history of consulting on national security issues and relies heavily on federal government funding. It operates four federally funded research and development centers. ■