Layoffs at Merck
- Layoff events
- 9
- verified and sourced
- Roles reported
- At least 846
- events with no figure are not in this number
- Announced between
- Jul 2024 to Sep 2026
- Reported by
- NJBIZ, New Jersey Department of Labor, Fierce Pharma, North Carolina Department of Commerce, The News & Observer, Business North Carolina, BioSpace, The Guardian, Bloomberg, The Daily Item / Yahoo, Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, and Fierce Biotech
This page records what we could verify and source. It is not a complete record of every job cut at Merck: a layoff nobody published and nobody sent us is a layoff that is not on this page.
| Company | What happened | Roles reported | Share of staff | Where | Announced | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merck |
Restructuring
Merck disclosed another Rahway WARN round affecting 54 employees, with separations on December 11 and January 4. |
54 | Not known | Rahway headquarters, Rahway, United States | ||
| Merck |
Restructuring
Merck disclosed a WARN round affecting 88 employees at its Rahway headquarters, effective September 4, as part of its multiyear optimization program. |
88 | Not known | Rahway headquarters, Rahway, United States | ||
| Merck |
Merck filed permanent layoff notices affecting 154 employees at two Durham sites as it moved to end Gardasil production at the Old Oxford Road facility. |
154 | Not known | 5325 Old Oxford Road + 100 Rodolphe Street, Durham, United States | ||
| Merck |
Restructuring
Merck disclosed another Rahway, New Jersey workforce reduction affecting 204 employees, with terminations scheduled across several dates from February through May 2026. |
204 | Not known | Rahway, New Jersey, Rahway, United States |
2 sources for Merck |
|
| Merck |
Site closure
Merck announced it would end early drug-discovery research in the U.K., vacate existing London R&D sites and eliminate 125 scientific jobs. |
125 | Not known | UK early research/discovery operations, London, United Kingdom | ||
| Merck |
Restructuring
Merck disclosed a New Jersey WARN round affecting 58 employees at its Rahway headquarters, effective November 14, as the company began implementing its broader cost-reduction plan. |
58 | Not known | Global headquarters, Rahway, United States | ||
| Merck |
Site closure
Merck confirmed phased layoffs affecting approximately 163 workers as it continued the multiyear wind-down of its Cherokee manufacturing plant in Riverside, Pennsylvania. |
163 | Not known | Cherokee manufacturing plant, 100 Avenue C, Riverside, United States | ||
| Merck |
Merck conducted layoffs in China, largely affecting its diabetes business amid declining sales of several medicines and Gardasil. |
Not known | Not known | China |
1 source for Merck |
|
| Merck |
Rumoured
Restructuring
Merck implemented a reduction in its early-research organization affecting an estimated 75 to 80 workers. |
Not known | Not known | Company-wide |
1 source for Merck |
Rumoured A named publication reported it. The company has not confirmed it. Published, and marked as rumoured wherever it appears.
Where this comes from
Every cut listed for Merck was entered by a person who checked it against a filing or a named report. Nothing is scraped and nothing publishes itself. What is not here is what we have not verified, not what did not happen.
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